Silver Bullet to the Heart
by Rhino7
Summary: Their lives would from now on forever be defined as 'before' and 'after' this moment. Final installment of the trilogy.
1. Elements

**Silver Bullet to the Heart**

**By Rhino7**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts its characters or storyline. I do own this story, as well as the Fractured Circle, Corbin Franks, and Tabaeus McCallister. This is the third installment of the trilogy and takes place three months after **_**Lay Down the Salt Lines**_**. **_**Ask Mercy Not of Me**_** takes place three years after the events of Kingdom Hearts II in my Alliance-verse****. **_**Lay Down the Salt Lines**_** takes place two years after that. **

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter One: Elements**

'Closing time' meant nothing in this part of town.

"I saw him with my own two peepers, I swear it!" The elderly man at one of the tables was ranting.

His companion, a middle aged man who was missing an ear, snorted. "I don't care what you say, old man, I never heard nothing about him having a machine gun for an arm."

"I seen it!" The old man hit his fist on the table. "And he was plowing down these Heartless like moving targets on a carnival game!"

"You're crazy." The other guy shook his head.

Tifa finished propping the chairs up on the unused tables. The rest of the lingering drinkers were beginning to filter out of the bar. Busty women hung onto drunken arms as they staggered out the door and into the heat of Thebes. Only the handful of regulars remained.

"You callin' me a liar? There've been crazier stories than mine!" The old man scoffed. "It's not so ridiculous for that Keybearer to have a machine gun for an arm."

"If he did, what would he need the Keyblade for?" His friend commented.

"Well…then he could shoot with one hand, and swing that sword with th'other!" The old man said.

"That's stupid." The other guy rolled his eyes.

Tifa nodded to the third remaining customer as he tipped his hat. Then he made a perverted gesture and she pointed at the door. He chuckled, hiccupped, and staggered out the door.

"How come I get called nuts for what I saw first hand, but that guy back in Radiant Garden gets promoted for callin' that Broken Arrow fella a shapeshifter?" The old man was saying.

Tifa kept turning over the chairs, but her ear strayed to the conversation.

The younger man snorted. "Fractured Circle, you senile old fart. And nobody called Leonhart crazy because that boy doesn't lie."

"Ha! So if HE said that Sora had a machine gun for an arm, people would believe him?"

"No, because he wouldn't say that because it's stupid." The man lit a fresh cigarette and sat back in his seat. "Besides, everybody knows the kid is holin' up in Halloween Town. There isn't any use for guns there because everything's already dead."

"Halloween Town? Last I heard, he was out in Neverland, joined up with Captain Hook."

"Why in Hades would he do that?"

"He's still on the run, ain't he? When the good guys are after you, piracy prevails!" The old man cried out dramatically.

"All right, guys." Tifa interrupted, not hearing anything interesting. "I'm seriously closing now."

"Yeah, all right." The middle aged man conceded and stood. "I've reached my crazy quota today anyway." He jeered at his older friend.

Tifa finished stacking the chairs and went back behind the bar counter, pulling the used shot glasses and empty bottles off the surface and setting them in the bussing tub to wash later. She heard the bell on the door chime and looked up to see the two walk out, still bickering over who was stupid about what idea, etc.

Their exit let in a gust of hot air from outside and she was grateful when the door closed. The fans she had set up around the joint did little to cool the air, but they at least caused some circulation. After spending a childhood in mildly temperate Radiant Garden and growing up in the mountains, it was hard to adjust to the suddenly scorching climate of Olympus.

After clearing the bar counter, she moved the tub of dishes off the surface to the sink area against the wall. Barely in business for two months and the register was already in a constant state of transaction. It was probably the bar's location: just a few blocks from the Coliseum. All the sore losers and triumphant winners flocked to the alcohol stash…and sometimes the stories were worth hearing.

But usually not.

Straightening, she pulled out the notebook she kept beside the register and flipped it open. Several pages of scribbles fluttered past as she found where she'd left off in her notes. Any and all gossip and rumors that she heard about Sora, about the Alliance, about anything relating to that situation. Olympus was full of people who thought they knew everything if their 'friend of a friend' told them. Heroes, wannabe heroes, rookie soldiers from the Alliance: this place was a breeding ground for hopeful warriors looking to attract Phil's eye, or to show off in the tournaments.

It was the perfect place for her to keep tabs on what was going on, after sorting the fact from the fiction. She pulled out a pen and jotted in a quick bullet about Sora possibly being in Halloween Town. Neverland truly was ridiculous, piracy, ha. She closed the book and slid it back against the register. She was just turning her attention to sweeping the floors when the bell on the door chimed again.

"We're closed." She announced without looking up, pushing her hair out of her eyes…well, her remaining eye.

The door chimed closed again, clicking against the frame. Tifa pulled the stools away from the bar and looked toward the door. The rest of her good mood evaporated and she pursed her lips as she saw the figure darkening her doorstep.

"What do you want?" She asked, as nonchalantly as possible, pulling the rest of the stools aside.

"Hello to you too." Leon said after a moment, not stepping any deeper into her bar.

Tifa glared at him, snatching up the broom and starting to sweep the floor. He folded his arms, glancing around the bar. Neither of them said anything for a long, awkward moment.

"We need to talk." He finally said.

She grunted, keeping her eye on her sweeping. "About what?"

"The weather, what do you think?" He said tersely.

She straightened. "Everybody out there—"

"They don't know I'm here. I'm not stupid." Leon cut in. "I know Thebes isn't exactly Alliance-friendly." He said.

"Especially not high ranking officers such as yourself." Tifa said. "I heard about the promotion. Congratulations I guess." She said flatly.

"Then you heard I turned it down again." He countered. "So you're keeping your ears open."

"Of course I do. I'M not stupid either." She snapped.

"Fine." He gave her an even look. "What have you heard?"

"Apparently Sora has a machine gun for an arm." She tilted her head, looking at him.

The ghost of a smirk touched his mouth, but then he went serious again. "About Franks."

"And his appearance-morphing boss?" She quipped. "Not much."

"Good." Leon looked sideways at the large windows of the building. "Can we talk somewhere more privately?"

"There's no one else here." Tifa gestured to the empty tables.

"I meant…Not as public." He said, heard himself say it, and gave her a flat expression.

Tifa lifted an eyebrow, but shrugged, letting him follow her into the back office room where she kept the bookkeeping papers. It was a cramped, windowless room with a desk, two chairs, and an over-stuffed file cabinet. Leon closed the door after himself, finding this room satisfactory.

"Why so secretive?" Tifa said skeptically.

"Had three attempts on my life in the past month…Forgive me for not being trusting of open windows." Leon replied smartly.

Tifa's good eye widened slightly. Three… "Are you okay?" She asked involuntarily.

He looked at her slowly. "Ask me again later."

She grimaced but decided to change tact. "How are no leads on those two gunes good?"

"We've been keeping it under wraps." Leon responded. "Only a few on the Head Council, the king, and I know all of the information on them."

"Honesty really is the best policy then." She grinned.

"And ignorance is bliss." He remarked. "We didn't want it leaking out, and those two becoming aware of how close we are to getting them."

"Are you close?" She asked.

"Very. Apart, the leader and his second are tricky to find, but together they're sloppy." Leon replied.

Tifa nodded vaguely and folded her arms, leaning against her desk. "And Sora?"

"He's…not sloppy." Leon answered just as vaguely. "And the newly appointed Head Council doesn't see his arrest as a high priority. They're more concerned with catching the other two and focusing on reconstructing the Alliance."

"You should be happy then." She grunted.

He looked at her sharply. "Why are you pissed at me? I'm not the one who left."

She bristled. "We're done. Show yourself out."

He didn't move. "We're not done."

"What do you want?" She snapped, straightening.

He took a step closer. She didn't back away. There were a lot of things stewing behind his eyes. She could see them, even read some of them, but he was holding them back, not saying them out loud. She wanted to know why. What was holding him back? Leon was not one to divulge anything easily though, so she squared her shoulders, clenching her jaw.

He breathed slowly, taking a second to swallow anything threatening to burst out of him.

"Three months." He finally muttered. "In the three months since you left, I've never bothered you, never contacted you, never asked you for a thing. I've left you alone, just like you wanted."

She narrowed her eyes, "You think this is what I wanted?"

He stayed toe to toe with her. "The rest of the Council may not be concerned about where Sora is, but I am." He changed the subject like a chameleon, always had. "Have you heard anything?"

She stared right back at him, just as intensely. "I hear a lot of things about him. Most of them are total shit."

"Any idea where he is?" Leon dropped his voice a few notches.

Tifa looked at him for a quiet moment, becoming more and more aware of how closely they were standing. "Gossip points to Halloween Town, but it's gossip." She said quietly. "Dark portals?"

Leon shook his head, "I don't think so. Dark magic leaves traces, and all of our leads and sources haven't left any evidence of that kind. However he's travelling, it's legitimate. Harder to track."

"How?" She asked.

"He's getting help…from the inside." He ran a hand over his forehead. "It's Private McCallister. No one else would stick with him for this long."

"She's—"

"She doesn't know that we know she's his mole. If she does, she's a damn good actress."

"Why the sudden concern?" She pressed.

"Sora needs help. He's going to get himself killed over something not worth getting killed for." Leon looked to her seriously. "We were wrong to push him away like that. I'm not saying he was right either, but the king was right: alienating Sora isn't going to help anything."

Tifa pursed her lips, her skin heating slightly at their proximity. She abruptly turned and took a few steps away, turning the evasive maneuver into pacing in front of her desk.

"I'm sorry. I wish I could help, but all of my information is drunk and shady." She said.

He watched her pace, remaining where he was. "Any information is something."

She turned her back to him as she continued pacing, but came to a stop at that.

"Is that it, then? I'm just an info-mule that you can plug into whenever you want?"

She heard him sigh heavily behind her.

"No, of course not." He muttered. "But it would help."

She put her hands on her hips and faced him again. "Like I said, Halloween Town is the best guess from my customers, though some say he's been seen in Traverse Town and Land of Dragons too."

"Land of Dragons is too heavily populated by Allied soldiers." Leon shook his head, "And Traverse Town is too small; they all know his face there."

"Disguise—" She started.

"You can't disguise how you fight, at least not easily."

"And the Keyblade isn't a common sighting." Tifa sighed.

"He still can't use it. No one's seen a Keyblade in three months, not since the apparent deal that McCallister said he made with the leader of the Fractured Circle."

"Well, we can't all be shapeshifters." She offered a small smile.

He started to give her a look of exasperation, saw the look on her face, and exhaled instead in the closest form he ever came to a laugh. A quiet moment that wasn't as tense or awkward as the previous half hour passed, and Leon looked to her.

"Thanks for your help."

It sounded like a goodbye.

Tifa pushed her hair from her eyes, finger trailing along the elastic of her eye patch as she did so. "No problem. It was good to see…I mean…Three months is a long…I missed…um…"

"Yeah." He averted his eyes. "Me too." He took a half step toward the door. "Should probably go."

Tifa bit her lip. "I'm not chasing you off. You don't have to."

"Yes I do." He opened the door. "Some of us have work to do besides serve drinks." He offered the tiniest of smirks.

She smiled and followed him out of the office. As they walked back into the main bar area, he paused by the door, but didn't look like he wanted to say anything. She stood by the bar, wanting to say something, but unsure how to say any of the stuff on her mind.

"Whiskey." She blurted finally.

He looked back at her, one eyebrow raised. "Come again?"

"Er." She blinked. "I'll save you a drink…When…If you ever wanna swing by again."

He relaxed slightly. "Right." He opened the door. "Take care of yourself."

"You too." She nodded.

The door swung closed after him and she stood alone in her bar again.

"Stay safe." She whispered.

**..:-X-:..**

Everything ever said about Tortuga out of Port Royal was right. It was crowded, filthy, rum-soaked, and violent. It was always five o'clock somewhere at the port, and Sora depended on that as he navigated through the bacchanalian part of town, heading toward the address he'd pulled from a fisherman a few blocks down.

Despite the technology of Gummi Ships and other worldly contact, this place seemed content to keep to its code of wooden ships and white wigs. It made foreigners stand out quite starkly, at least until the third or fourth pint. For that reason, he had left his Gummi Ship way beyond the town limits, hitch hiking his way in under disguise. Drunk and disorderly they may be, but the residents of Tortuga could still recognize the former General of the Alliance, mostly because he had an underground bounty on his head the size to pay for rum for a year, and a steady stream of 'pleasurable company'. Enough to put every person in this world on his tail.

Maneuvering through the streets toward the old warehouse, he checked his surroundings. The pirates and ne'er-do-wells passing him were too distracted by their own good times to pay him any heed. That suited him just fine.

Sora sidled up to the back door of the warehouse, looked over and read the street marker. It matched the address he'd memorized and he inhaled slowly, adjusting the cloak over himself as he opened the door and slid inside.

The interior of the warehouse was full of cigar smoke and the air was rank with the smell of too much perfume, body odor, and alcohol. A few lanterns were stationed to light the open floor just enough to make sure one didn't bump into anything as they entered. Sora blinked several times to let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting, walking slowly deeper into the warehouse.

A group of around 20 people were splayed out carelessly near the center, all smoking, drinking, and playing cards. It was like walking right into a cliché. Sora strode over to them casually, keeping one hand on the pistol in his pocket. The first person to notice him was the only one he cared about.

"Clyde, you scoundrel!" The man threw his hands in the air, big stupid grin on his face. "Long time no sprechen!" He greeted.

Sora finished walking up to the main table. "Cobb, still as…hygienic as ever."

"Get over here, you old codpiece." Cobb chuckled, gesturing for a hug.

Sora didn't come any closer. "I'd rather not." He looked around at the company Cobb was keeping. "I'm here for my order."

"Of course, of course. Always strictly business with you, sir." Cobb gave a little salute and stood, hiking up his faltering trousers and setting his hand of cards down. He walked toward the back wall.

The others in the group eyed Sora curiously, his odd choice of dress. He looked like a foreigner, but he didn't bother trying to dress like a native. As long as he didn't look like an Allied affiliate, that was disguise enough. He stared back at them until they looked away. They weren't curious enough to raise any comments. Cobb soon sauntered back over to them anyway.

"Two crates, sealed and insulated, full order." He said, sounding proud of himself.

Sora tugged a pouch of gold coins from his belt. Allied munny had no power here: that he'd learned quickly. He tossed the pouch onto the table in front of Cobb. The arms dealer tilted his head and toyed with the pullstring, allowing the top of the pouch to spill open.

He let out a whistle. "My, my, I'm a slicker seller than I thought, charging you this much."

"Don't flatter yourself." Sora said sharply. "That's payment for the order and a down payment on my next order. Same details, same amount."

"You drive a hard bargain, mate." Cobb bit on one of the gold pieces. "One month you been coming to me, and I've been keeping me silence." He looked to Sora. "But some of the fancy pants are starting to get edgy, and my suppliers don't like people peepin' into our affairs."

Sora rolled his eyes and tossed another pouch on the table.

Cobb tugged it open as well, inspecting the contents. "My lips are sealed, Clyde boy."

Sora nodded and shouldered past him, not sparing any other words as he headed for the back exit. His hand stayed around the pistol, but no one followed after him. His phone vibrated against his thigh as he stepped out into the alley behind the warehouse. Sure enough, two storage crates were sitting there, unmarked and sealed, waiting for him.

He pulled out his phone as he crossed to the boxes. Text message from McCallister.

_Detected. Norrington's men heading your way. Half an hour away._

He swore under his breath and hastily popped open one of the crates, peering inside. As promised, ammunition, machetes, grenades, sniper rifles, and a few RPGs. The other crate held weapon cleaning supplies and other weapons. Half an hour wasn't enough time to get these supplies transported to the ship. Another text rolled in.

_Abandoned welding house, new ride._

A relieved smirk turned his lips and he pocketed his phone. McCallister had definitely not been worthless these past three months. Her communication was short, strict, and to the point. Just the way he needed it. She never tried to contact him in person or on the phone. He wasn't sure what to make of that, but it was optimal at this point.

Pocketing his phone, Sora jogged the fifty feet to the welding house and stepped inside. The roof was collapsed and there were no working doors, but the Gummi Ship sitting there waiting for him blended right into the darkness. Small, compact, and armed with forward and reverse weapons. McCallister had taste in transport, he had to give her that.

By the time the uniformed militia ran in, rifles up and ready, Sora was long gone from the world of Port Royale.

**..:-X-:..**

Construction on the new headquarter building was already well underway in the old Great Maw. The office building currently being used was only temporary, and it was proving to be impossible. The air conditioning had crapped out, so it was subzero in the cubicles, and power flickers in the lower departments were making work the most inefficient atmosphere possible.

Tabaeus McCallister had had worse days.

Luckily, the Major General had allowed her to work in the Brigadier General's old office. Since Lockhart had resigned three months ago, many of the officers and lower ranked workers in the building had more or less avoided the Major General, and his mood had been less than predictable. McCallister was one of the few that braved it. She had handled Sora at his worst, and he had none of Leonhart's control.

It still felt like she was trespassing on forbidden ground every time she walked into Lockhart's old office. But it was the only place where she could securely work on the more classified documents and files that she was required to handle, so she made do.

She was alone in the upper floors of the building right now, and would be for another few hours. She bit the corner of her lip and opened her laptop, picking through a few active windows before checking her connection. It was secure and it was private, untraceable. Satisfied that no one was spying on her internet dealings, she tracked down the cell signal that she had used to send the texts to Sora.

It took a few minutes to load and she glanced at the office door. It was closed, and the light at the bottom of the door revealed no one to be standing there, waiting to barge in on her. Taking a slow breath, she turned her eyes back to the computer screen.

According to the system, Sora's phone was on board with him now, leaving Port Royal and moving into deeper space. She felt some relief that he'd gotten out safely and closed the window, not needing to know where he was going next.

Three months was a long time.

She closed her eyes briefly and picked up the phone, paused, and set it back down. This was insane. This was stupid. This was…her job, what she did best: keeping Sora alive…whether he noticed or cared or if the Alliance found out or not.

She needed a vacation.


	2. Alibi

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are Tabaeus, the Fractured Circle, Corbin Franks, and Duke. Starting to really get the ball rolling with this chapter, but it took a few weeks to find the time to work on it, so it might be a little patchy. Constructive criticism is always welcome and appreciated!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Two: Alibi**

The proverbial noose was tightening and it was making his neck itch.

"He's getting too close." Franks was saying.

He ignored the subordinate, eying his disguise in the cracked and dusty mirror. He had discarded Private McCallister's visage not long after leaving Atlantica. She was becoming far too recognized as the Keybearer's affiliate to serve as a decent disguise. He had dabbled in wearing the faces of Kairi and even Leonhart when he needed something. By the time those witless soldiers realized he wasn't the Major General, he had been long gone and long changed in appearance.

But it was much more fun messing with their heads.

"Which one?" He finally asked, putting the finishing touches on his personal favorite disguise: the one that had given Lockhart that lovely little look of horror on her face.

"Sir?" Franks sounded surprised.

"Ol' Squally is shooting in the dark. Last week he was dispatching squads in Deep Jungle, and this week's luck of the draw was Port Royal." He paused. "Though I wouldn't put it past him to be up to something." He tapped his chin. "No, our larger concern is Sora. The Alliance's Council may be on our trail, but Sora is on the hunt. And he has none of the Alliance's reservation."

"So what?" Franks threw up his hands, "I thought the whole point was to take him out! Why are we running away? Shouldn't we be chasing him down?"

"We are, you imbecilic monkey." He chastised, turning from the mirror to face him. "But a blind man doesn't challenge a sharpshooter to a game of darts: we have to be smart about how we confront him. The spider carefully constructs the web before lashing the fly."

Franks facepalmed at the metaphors. "Sir, please."

"Now, while he is on the move, we cannot track him down. At least not as easily as our other problem." He folded his arms.

Franks balked. "Leonhart? You're talking about sharpshooters and you want to attack HIM?"

"No, fool. Even I'M not that arrogant." He tutted. "No…Leonhart is a fractured man on the cusp of madness. I dare say his co-working with Lockhart was the only thing keeping either of them sane. After all," He tilted his head, Mako-mimicking eyes glowing eerily. "it's not like he has anybody else."

"Lockhart is in Olympus, has been since she left." Franks remarked.

"She's dangerous in her own right." He commented. "Two birds with one stone would be efficient at this point."

Every Ally had a weak point; it was their flaw as a military system. One couldn't be as aggressive as was necessary if one was squabbling about human lives and that nonsense. That had been Sora's weakness and why he had lost the Keyblade to protect that McCallister woman. Now it was time to pull the curtain off Leonhart's weakness. In the same breath, remove the other pillar that still held the weight to hurt his endgame: Lockhart.

"And how exactly do you suggest we go about taking her out?" Franks sounded dubious. "She may not be an Ally anymore, but she has her own brand of protection."

"I leave that in your capable hands, Mr. Franks." He flashed a smirk. "Now go."

**..:-X-:..**

The crystal clear sunlight poured through the curtains, which were swaying to and fro in the breeze from the open window. It was the kind of morning that made one want to curl up in a ball under the blankets and stay in bed all day.

The fingers trailing over Kairi's arm pulled her out of that idea.

She opened her eyes to find Tanner looking back at her with a soft smile on his face. She smiled back sleepily and nuzzled into the pillow.

"Good morning?" It sounded like a question from him.

"Mmhm." She hummed in the affirmative, stretching her arms over her head.

It was a legitimate question. She hadn't had the recurring nightmares since the wedding three months ago, but every morning when they woke up, Tanner would ask her 'good morning?', as a silent check on how her sleep had been. The nightmares had just stopped…and she was grateful for that.

Tanner kissed her and sat up in bed, stretching. "Nice day today."

"Yes…and don't even think about it." Kairi could see where his mind was going.

This was the first week after the end of hurricane season on Destiny Islands, and many of the men in the village were busting out their fishing gear to hit all their favorite spots.

"You didn't even hear what I had to say!" He pouted.

"Didn't need to." She said, sitting up as well with a smirk. "You're never up to any good."

He stuck his tongue out at her and climbed out of bed, picking up her cell phone on the bedside table. "You have three missed calls and fourteen unopened text messages…all from—" He frowned slightly, looking to her. "Tabaeus McCallister."

Kairi's brow furrowed and she reached out. He handed her the phone and she flipped through the texts. None of them made any sense. Alarm bells went off in her head. Tabaeus wasn't one to contact her without good reason. Something had to be wrong. She checked the times on them. All of the calls and texts had been received within the span of one hour…just two hours earlier.

"What does she want?" Tanner asked, slightly gruff.

He shared her feelings on the situation…well, what of the situation she'd told him. Kairi wasn't hiding anything from her husband, but there were a few details surrounding her fall out with Sora and the Alliance that she needed to keep to herself, and Tanner didn't press her about them most of the time.

"They…nothing." She shrugged, looking to him at a loss. "They're barely words…I think something's wrong. This isn't like her…"

Knocking sounded on the front door downstairs and both of them looked toward the bedroom door.

"I'll get that." Tanner said after a beat. "Maybe you should figure that out." He gestured to the phone.

"I'm already re-dialing her." Kairi tutted, calling the number back.

Tanner left the bedroom and she heard his footsteps head down the stairs. The phone against her ear rang as the call connected. The other end rang…and rang again…then it rang a third time, but there was no answer. Nerves really taking hold now, Kairi hung up and started to dial the number again, when she heard the front door open and Tanner call up the stairs.

"Kairi! I found the problem!"

He sounded more bemused than alarmed, and Kairi jumped off the bed and hurried down the stairs. By the time she reached the first floor of their small house, she still had no idea what he had meant by 'the problem'. Then she stepped into the front living room.

Tabaeus McCallister was leaning against the frame of the front door, hip cocked, shit-eating grin on her face. Kairi had never seen that expression on her before. She looked…carefree. Then she saw the empty bottle in the soldier's hand and put two and two together.

"Hellooo." Tabaeus cooed, eyes glassy from the alcohol. "What're you fine people up to?"

"Um…" Tanner looked helplessly to Kairi. "We were just—"

Tabaeus followed Tanner's gaze to Kairi and pointed her free hand at her. "I called you, like, a zillion times."

"It's…it's eight in the morning." Kairi said, non-plussed at her behavior.

"Ah." Tabaeus gave a reckless wave. "It's five o'clock somewhere right?" She lifted her wrist to her eyes with a flourish, reading her watch. "Or, in Radiant Garden time, 10:30 pm." She snorted.

The smell of whiskey rushed to meet Kairi and she recoiled slightly.

"You're drunk." She said quietly.

Tabaeus snorted again, dropping her arms to her sides with boneless flops. "Wonderful observation, Miss…Observa'nal One." Her voice slurred slightly near the end.

Kairi moved past Tanner to grasp the neck of the bottle from the woman's hand. "I've known you for three years and never seen you drink so much as a shot."

"Times have changed." Tabaeus said somberly, then loudly. "I've changed. The world's changed. You've changed. Look at you." She pointed again. "Married, nice house, nice hubby." She hiccupped.

Kairi and Tanner exchanged uncomfortable looks.

"Why don't you come inside?" Kairi offered. She didn't want Tabaeus wandering around Destiny Islands in her inebriated condition, causing mayhem in the quiet streets.

Tanner looked dubious of that decision, but didn't say anything as Tabaeus swaggered into the living room. She lifted the bottle to her lips mechanically, realized nothing was in it, and made a disappointed noise, setting the bottle on the end table beside the couch.

"So what…I mean why…" Kairi swallowed. "What's going on?"

"Oh, you know…work, work, more work." Tabaeus sounded slightly bitter now, wandering around the living room and inspecting the furniture absently. "Funny…the hands we're dealt in life." She cast Kairi an unreadable look.

Kairi sighed. "Are you okay?" Dumb question, she inwardly scolded. "What's wrong?"

"What's right?" Tabaeus snapped back, facing her. "Everything. I did EVERYTHING tha' he ever asked me. I never questioned 'im. I never turned from him. I was loyal, dammit, and he still—" She trailed away. "He still waits for you…The one who go' 'way."

Kairi grimaced. Of course this was about Sora.

"I mean…how much sense does THA' make?" Tabaeus threw her hands up in the air. "I should have known better. There are some things you aren't s'posed to tamper with…and I thought he could…but I'mma fool for thinkin'—Why would he ever want me…when he could've ha' you?"

"Me?" Kairi didn't like where this was going.

"Not even you…The GHOST of you is better than anythin' I could ever offer." Tabaeus snorted and started to list sideways. She caught herself on the armrest of the couch.

"Tabaeus…" Kairi sighed.

But Tabaeus was eyeing the mantle of the fireplace, where Kairi and Tanner had littered pictures of family and little baubles that reminded them of friends and loved ones. Amidst the trinkets was the tiny paper crane that Kairi had placed in her wedding bouquet.

"Did I give you that?" Tabaeus hiccupped.

"N-no." Kairi tentatively approached her. "It…It was right after…everything and I…It was in the old office. I'm sorry I took it, but it felt symbolic. I used it in my flowers on my wedding."

Tabaeus tilted her head, eying the crane. Then, with a sigh that reeked of tequila, she looked to Kairi. "At least it was use-ul to somebahdy." She slurred.

"I'll get some water or something to help sober her up." Tanner offered.

Tabaeus let out a bark of a laugh, "Don't bother. I'm too far gone now." She snorted and sank onto the couch. "Too far gone."

"Tabaeus, please, tell me what happened to…drive you to this." Kairi desperately asked.

"Sora." Tabaeus spat the name out.

"Yes, I know that." Kairi reached out and grasped her hand. "But what specifically?"

"There are no specifics." Tabaeus gave a lackadaisical hand wave. "I just finally opened my eyes." She swallowed hard, the alcohol loosening her tongue. "M'in the Bi'der Gen'ral's office now."

"Tifa?" Kairi blinked, "I heard she left the Alliance, but what does that have to do with—"

"The Major Gen'ral's a mess." Tabaeus ran a hand through her unkempt hair.

Tanner walked back into the living room with a glass of water, offering it to her. "Everything all right?"

"Leon? I thought…" Kairi was confused.

"He can't even go into her office." Tabaeus pinched the skin between her eyes. "He's like half of a whole right now…Whatever that means." She snorted again. "I guess I just realized that I'm never going to be that half of Sora's whole."

Kairi was even more confused than ever. "You mean…Tifa and Leon—"

"No." Tabaeus grunted, "Not that I know of…Not officially anyway…That's not the point…The Brigadier Ge—Lockhart—c'pletely trampled all o'er the Major Gen'ral and he's still waiting for her…Me and him aren't all that different…Just one big part…Lockhart actually cares about 'im."

"Tabaeus, you're not making sense."

"I love him, Kairi. What doesn't make sense about that?" Tabaeus snapped, standing abruptly. "I'm in love with the biggest horse's ass the Alliance has ever known."

"Does he know?"

"Of course not." Tabaeus said. "All Sora cares about is hunting down Franks and the leader. I'm just another soldier that he can use and manipulate…And I let him manipulate me because…well because I'm the biggest dumbass the Alliance has ever known."

"You're not an idiot for falling in love with Sora." Kairi offered a small smile. "It happens to the best of us."

Tanner glanced at her for a moment but then looked toward the window instead.

"Maybe, but I'm a fool for STAYING in love with him, after all the shit he's pulled." Tabaeus said, half lidded eyes staring into the unlit fireplace.

Kairi bit her lip and frowned, looking to Tanner, who returned her look. He nodded his head toward the parlor. She nodded and looked to Tabaeus. "I'll be right back. Just stay here…please."

"Yeah, yeah." Tabaeus waved a hand, sipping at the water.

Kairi and Tanner retreated into the parlor.

"What's all this about?" Tanner asked.

"It's complicated." Kairi ran a hand over her face.

"It always is when it comes to him." Tanner said quietly.

"Please." Kairi grimaced, "I thought we put all of that behind us."

"And yet here it is all over again, drunk in our living room." Tanner gestured.

"This isn't her fault." Kairi argued softly. "She just needs a night off."

"She's already having a night off…with Jack Daniels and Jim Bean by the smell of it." Tanner looked annoyed.

"Oh, don't be like that. I looked worse by the time you met me." Kairi chided, "We should let her stay here for a while."

"What—"

"Just until she pulls herself together and the alcohol wears off." Kairi said, putting her hands on his chest placatingly. "She shouldn't be in a Gummi in her condition and she'll only find trouble in town."

She could tell that Tanner knew she was right. Tabaeus had been through too much to be turned out now by the only person she really considered a friend. Kairi knew there was a reason Tabaeus had picked HER front porch to stagger up to, and she wasn't about to turn her away in her hour of need.

Tanner's throat bobbed. "All right. All right fine. One night to sleep it off and compose herself."

Kairi smiled, "Thank you." She kissed him briefly and hurried back into the living room.

Tabaeus was where Kairi had left her, still holding onto the empty bottle as though it was some kind of security blanket.

"Tabaeus?" Kairi said, walking around her. "You're staying here tonight."

"No. Nonononono, I can't." Tabaeus shook her head, "I'm one big accident waitin' t'appen."

"It wasn't a request." Kairi said. "I'm worried about you and I don't want you to hurt yourself. You really think you're fit to fly tonight?"

Even in her drunken stupor, Tabaeus had to agree with her. "Fine." She grunted. "Just…can you take that thing down?" She pointed at the paper crane on the mantle. "Just looking at it is making me nauseas."

**..:-X-:..**

Corbin Franks stepped out of the rundown building in the heart of Abrabah. The heat and the sun nearly smashed the air from his lungs. By the gods, he hated the desert. He had wanted to start up the investigation somewhere more temperate, like Enchanted Castle or Neverland, but nooooo, the boss had to pick the only world that the Devil himself called hot.

Scratching at the sweat that was already beading his forehead, Franks maneuvered through the bazaar and toward the makeshift Gummi hangar at the edge of town. There wasn't a lot of tourism here. The only people around the city of Agrabah were the natives, historians and archaeologists interested in a dig, a small Allied base, and a handful of thrill-seekers and treasure hunters. He didn't stand out too badly, but still more than he cared for.

"My capable hands…" He grunted, walking along the noses of the Gummis.

Didn't that egomaniac understand that deliberately attacking Tifa Lockhart was like poking a bear with a cattle prod? He had only seen her a few times in person, but he knew his street-fighting would get him as far as one hit…Then she'd break him like a stress pencil.

The Gummi Ships docked at the hangar all looked the same: dusty, chipped, and outdated. Perfect. He walked to the end of the row and found a particularly rusted out looking thing. With the empty soda cans littered across the dashboard and the air freshener hanging from the rear rocket launcher, it looked like the owner WANTED someone to steal this beast.

Climbing up onto the cockpit lift, he found it unlocked, just another sign of carelessness by the owner, and slid inside. The interior smelled of leftover fastfood and unwashed laundry…This was the Space Generation's trailer park adventurer. Wincing against the odor, Franks made his way into the cockpit and found the control panel functional, if ten years behind in the technology.

Nobody would miss this thing.

Busting open the paneling, he hastily rigged the starter wires to ignite the engine. The Gummi chugged to life like an old man waking up from a nap. Checking his controls, Franks slowly maneuvered the ship out of the Agrabah hangar and pointed it toward the atmosphere.

How the Hell was he supposed to take out Lockhart?

As the blue of the sky faded to the black of space, he punched in the coordinates for Olympus. The trick would be to kill her on the first try…Not give her any time to react and regroup. Hiring the right sniper would do the job…and Thebes was full of ne'er do wells just itching for some mischief.

The boss wasn't making any sense. Taking out that blasted Keybearer was not priority one. Hell, Leonhart had an entire arsenal waiting on his word to bomb the holy shit out of them. All he needed was the location. Sora was just any other pissant. Sure, at one point he had been dangerous…General of the Alliance all…but now he was out of his ass, no allies, no friends, not even that Keyblade. He was nothing, why was the boss so amped up to kill him?

To add to that line of thought, if the boss knew where the pipsqueak was supposed to be, why not just get a professional killer to blast his brains out? He was just one kid. Then again, that one kid had demolished the entire army of the Fractured Circle with one radio command…and he held a grudge worse than Hades himself.

Bah.

"If it was up to me," Franks commented aloud, navigating the Gummi through space traffic. "We would just find the little runt, rig up some C-4 and blast his scrawny ass back to preschool."

Light bulb.

**..:-X-:..**

It had nearly been a week since Leon had gone home. Dropping his keys on the side table and nudging the door closed with his heel, he walked into the apartment. It looked messy and half-lived in…which he supposed it was. Rubbing his eyes, he flicked on a light.

Paws clattered across wood floor as the red-golden retriever ducked out of Leon's room and at him like the welcoming committee, tail flapping like a banner.

"Hey, Duke." He muttered, patting her on the head as he walked through the living room.

Duke stayed on his heels, weaving around his legs and licking at his fingers for more attention.

"Ah, stop it." He grunted, looking up and suddenly stopping.

The door to Tifa's room was open.

It hadn't been opened in three months. Not since Tifa closed it on her way out that day.

Red flags going up, Leon quietly stepped over to the doorway, scanning the interior with a quick eye. He frowned, bracing himself, and then swept into the room. Stride, scan, pivot. Scan again. Nothing moved. Nothing reacted. Nobody attacked. Nothing had changed.

It was still empty, vacant and unused.

The dust that had settled over every surface was undisturbed.

Duke keened from the living room, ears perked at his behavior.

After a quick check of the room, Leon found nothing and hastily stepped out, looking at the dog. She must have gotten the door open somehow. He frowned and gripped the doorknob. He hated this room. He grimaced, closing the door again.

"Dammit." He said quietly, running a hand through his hair.

McCallister had left a note on the counter detailing how she'd been taking care of Duke this week for him, but that she'd be out of town for a day or two. She wasn't scheduled for any missions or outer world appointments. The subject omission was answer enough.

Exhaustion seeping into his bones from the previous 38 hours, Leon lumbered toward the ugly couch in the living room and promptly sank onto it. Duke followed him, sitting back on her haunches and letting her tongue loll over her teeth.

He took out his cell phone and flipped it open. No new messages. No new voicemails.

Well, what had he been expecting?

Chewing the inside of his lip, he opened his contacts and scrolled down through the names. Duke was watching him with her big brown eyes. Leon paused, looking away from his phone and at the dog.

"I know, all right?" He huffed. "It was a mistake to go there."

He glared at her number on his phone, thumb hanging over the call button. He drew one deep, even breath, and exhaled. Cursing under his breath, he closed his phone and tossed it onto the coffee table.

"I hate this couch." He muttered, but he didn't get up either.

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N**: The last line of the chapter is a bit of an inside-joke from _Good Enough for Me_, my ditty collection of Leon and Tifa, in which there are several moments of Leon versus this ugly couch.


	3. Sand

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are Tabaeus, the Fractured Circle, and Corbin Franks. I swear this story's not dead! I've just been crazy distracted. Stupid school. Anyway, I ended up making a big plot change to this story, because it just wasn't working the old way. So…big plot twist in this chapter! Hope it's not too confusing. I tried to be descriptive. Constructive criticism is always welcome and appreciated!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Three: Sand**

The most annoying thing about the desert is the sand.

Sunlight was tolerable. The way it reflected off every earthy surface wasn't too bothersome. Sunburn could be avoided if you were responsible.

The intense heat could be adjusted to. Suffocating at first, but not overly painful.

But sand…Sand got into anything and irritated everything.

The tiny grains drifted about as the heated afternoon wind picked them up. Miniature dust clouds swirled around the ankles of the natives of Agrabah as they went about their daily business. Sora kept his hood up and his head down as he maneuvered through the streets of the Bazaar. The people of this world didn't pay much attention to outsiders as long as they didn't make waves.

Fortunately, Sora had become adept at not making waves and drawing attention to himself.

Unfortunately, so had the leader of the Fractured Circle.

Following a lead from Atlantica, he had booked a Gummi to the desert world. He always seemed to be one step behind the shapeshifter leader. Behind the devil.

Navigating through the marketplace was difficult. People were milling about with large baskets and boxes, small herds of livestock and carts of merchandise. The sounds and the smells and the energy of the place were enough to make him nearly invisible. Buyers bartering with sellers. Merchants flaunting their ornate rugs and pottery. Birds and goats calling in their own tongues.

He moved closer to the walls and avoided being bumped into by a large man toting a crate.

Word was that Tabaeus McCallister had been seen here a few days ago escorted by a wiry man with sharp cheekbones: much like the description of Corbin Franks that was in circulation. Sora happened to know for a fact that McCallister had been in a four hour meeting with the Council in Radiant Garden the day she was spotted here.

Which meant she either had an evil twin or someone, a shapeshifter, was roaming around wearing her skin. And shapeshifters weren't exactly everywhere…Or maybe they were. He pushed the thought from his mind.

The bastard was here…Or at least had been here.

Always one step behind him. Just as soon as Sora thought he had finally caught up to him, the tyrant slipped through his fingers, like sand.

"—Allied economy has grown nearly 40 percent since the election of the new Council members." A trained, articulated voice came from one of the buildings he walked past.

Sora slowed his stride, glancing over.

When the Alliance first made contact with Agrabah, they had offered the desert world every kind of help: technology, medicine, and the like. The people here had stood firm to their ways, their culture, accepting only the knowledge the Alliance offered to kill the Heartless. They didn't need help. At first, Sora had thought them ignorant of clinging to a way of life so primitive to the rest of the galaxy. Now he was beginning to understand. Agrabah had evolved into what it was today in order to handle its own worldly issues. The galaxy could do whatever it wished otherwise.

Once the wars against the Heartless intensified, and the Fractured Circle infiltrated all of the Allied systems, however, Agrabah had become more open to the technology the Alliance offered.

Hence the anachronistic appearance of a radio in one of the Bazaar windows. A group of merchants were sitting around it, talking and listening in to the broadcast.

"King Mickey of Disney Castle has spoken openly, advocating the reconstruction of the Allied economy." The reporter was saying in her crisp, lightly accented voice. "Representative Nestor of Radiant Garden has proposed a plan to rebuild the new Council building where the old structure had been destroyed just three years previously."

Sora glanced over the nearest cart of trinkets and pottery, pretending to shop as he listened to the report.

"Major General Leonhart continues to back the Highwind Bill, which would allocate 2 million munny to funding an upgraded Security System on Radiant Garden." The reporter continued.

"I told you he had an agenda." One of the merchants interrupted. "How long did that guy refuse and refuse to upgrade that system? Now that his precious Radiant Garden is under attack, he's up in arms for it."

Another man guffawed, "Three years later hardly counts as 'up in arms'."

"Well, I don't hear of any bills to put more protection around here, or Olympus or Neverland for that matter." The first man argued.

A third man puffed on his pipe. "And why would there be? There are no military bases of any substance here, or high up officials."

"People!" The first man smacked his knee. "That's what the whole forsaken Alliance is supposed to protect! People! Not bases or their hoity toity officials. They're supposed to protect the people!"

"And to do that, they have to protect the leaders." The second man commented. "And the Council and all of the representatives are headquartered in Radiant Garden."

Sora spotted the man working the cart eying him suspiciously. He took out a bag of munny and purchased a few pouches of dates to placate the man, stepping away but lingering near the radio.

The reporter chattered on. "The world of Notre Dame has voiced concerns about Allied presence there, stating that the military has been ineffective in banishing the Heartless, and only creating a sense of unease around the city of Paris."

The news was beginning to wane toward more mundane and everyday topics. Nothing more interesting to Sora would be brought up. All this talk of the economy and the movement against the Heartless. No talk of the Fractured Circle, the hunt for the leader, or, most intriguing, the chase against Sora himself.

He wasn't sure what to make of it.

King Mickey and Leon had a lot on their plate: pacifying the entire Alliance and rebuilding the government as well as the worlds themselves. It was no easy task. Sora was sure he was the least of their worries, but with the way the public had reacted when the warrant for his arrest was issued, he had expected a little more than no mention on the news.

No news was good news, he figured.

But no news of the shapeshifter? That was…disheartening.

Either the Council was having no luck hunting the man, or they were having luck but keeping it to themselves. Sora paused, pocketed the pouch of dates, and continued his walk down the Bazaar. Neither Corbin Franks nor the shapeshifter leader was here anymore. What was he still doing here?

The Alliance wasn't actively hunting Sora anymore. He was on their list, but he wasn't in their crosshairs at the moment. With Tifa off the Council, the main voice against him was quiet. McCallister must have been keeping information on him under wraps as well. He hadn't told her to, but she was doing it anyway. So she did have a mind of her own. Ha.

Blinking away the sand that the wind was whipping at him, Sora made his way through the Bazaar and toward the Gummi Hangar on the skirt of the city.

More sand, just slipping through his fingers.

**..:-X-:..**

While Thebes was all hustle, bustle, and heat, it was considerably more comfortable than the atmosphere of Agrabah. A recent tournament had been wrapped up that afternoon at the Coliseum, so the city was in a state of celebration, dancing and drinking in the streets.

Franks found Lockhart's bar just outside the epicenter of the partying. A good sized crowd was inside and loitering outside, in varying levels of drunk and disorderly. The populace of Thebes was always a motley crew of misfits and oddballs. The people were either as thin as straw or round like bowling balls.

Considering this, it was easy enough to inconspicuously park his Gummi ship and make his way across town. Rubble and rocks were littered about. Olympus had been one of the worse worlds hit by the Heartless attacks. From what Franks could tell, the world was on the mend. The whole city had a feel of an open wound that was starting to heal.

He grunted, maneuvering through the crowd. He didn't have time to sit around and sight see. The rabble-rousers of Lockhart's place were of the happy drunk variety. All slurred lyrics and bear hugs. It was unpleasant, considering the state of hygiene in Olympus, but it was preferable compared to the rambunctious angry drunks in the other sect of town.

Franks slipped through the entrance behind a trio of toga-clad partiers. He turned the unlit cigarette around his lips with his tongue, holding it with his teeth. Nobody paid him much attention as he maneuvered through the drinkers. It was slow going. He couldn't very well bee-line to the place where he would start the 'accident'.

So he managed at a slow navigation, steering away from some of the more flirtatious women who kept trying to dance up on him. Maybe another day, he would indulge them, but not today.

Lockhart was behind the bar with a middle aged woman, and a thickly built man with long dreadlocks. The three of them were too busy filling drinks and swatting off troublemakers to notice one man moving toward the back wall.

The storage area in the back housed several bottles of every brand of alcohol that Franks had ever seen or heard of. Lockhart had worked a bar before, he could tell that. How on Kingdom Hearts a woman like her had ended up with the rank of Brigadier General, he couldn't fathom. What had possessed her to drop that title for the barkeep gig again, was even more of a mystery.

Then again, the boss had his own theories about that. Something between Lockhart and Leonhart…Franks didn't care what it was. Only that he do his job.

Women.

Grabbing up a bottle of hard whiskey, he popped off the cork and sniffed at it. The aroma stung at his nostrils and he exhaled, tipping the bottle over. The caramel liquid splashed out of the bottle, splattering over the floor. He began to step around the back area, tossing the whiskey against the wall.

When the first bottle ran out, he took up another bottle of red wine. Opening it, he took a long pull from the vintage and then opened more whiskey, tossing it around on the other cases of alcohol. Gasoline was preferable, but there was no way he could have smuggled in enough gasoline to start a decent fire. Alcohol would have to be catalyst enough.

Taking up a third bottle, he tipped out half of the whiskey before tugging a handkerchief out of his pocket. Wadding it up, he stuffed half of it into the neck. The rest of the handkerchief stuck out, like champagne foam turned into cloth. With that in one hand, he fumbled with his pocket and pulled out his cigarette lighter.

He glanced out of the storage room door and saw no eyes drifting his way. Striking the lighter to life, he slid the flame under the handkerchief. The material ate up the flames. As it started to spread, he hastily stepped toward the door to the main zone of the bar.

Holding the flaming bottle aloft, he reeled back and hurled the thing into the main tavern. The mass sailed over the crowd, which took relatively no notice of the projectile. Enough stuff was thrown about in there anyway.

He turned back into the storage room, relit his lighter, and tossed it at the whiskey soaked floor. Before the live flame made contact with the alcohol, Franks had ducked out of the storage room and into the bar area.

Over the din, he barely heard the sound of glass shattering, and then a plume of fire climbed out of the spot where the flaming bottle crashed. People began to scream and heat slammed through the storage door as the lighter hit the main alcohol store.

Chaos set in.

In the mess, Franks made his way to the side exit, glancing back into the bar, which was almost immediately being consumed by the fire. One quick scan of the place and he caught eyes with Lockhart. She was staring at him as though she had suspected him all along, though she couldn't have.

Then the madness gripped the rest of the crowd that hadn't yet completely realized what had happened, and Lockhart's attention was stolen as she tried to get some semblance of organization into the evacuation.

Franks slipped just as quickly out of the exit and into the smoky alley behind the bar.

There, he'd done his part.

He wasn't certain that her seeing him had been part of the plan, but there was no undoing it now. With any luck, she would die in the fire, or by smoke inhalation. There was no way everyone would get out of there in time, before the fire disabled the exits, and Lockhart wasn't one to leave civilians behind.

Then again, if she did die, they would have the wrath of Leonhart on their heads.

He hoped the boss knew what he was doing.

**..:-X-:..**

Things were moving along nicely.

Everything was stable. No new fluctuations or tampering. All five subjects were still deep under, and unless the machinery malfunctioned again, they would stay that way.

They were all rats in a maze, HIS maze, and he had no intention of letting them go until they hit the cheese. That Keybearer in particular…They were getting close.

After Corbin Franks left him, he lingered for an hour, watching the people mingle and loiter in the sweltering heat. Roughly four years…or one week, depending on how you talked to…Four years and they still hadn't realized what was happening. His rats were maybe not quite as perceptive as he thought. Then again, they weren't exactly looking for the seams.

Good versus evil. A heady subject not to be taken lightly. He had grown tired of stiff necked philosophical debates in dusty classrooms. Now the ball was in his court. The entire simulation was in his hands, and the pieces on his game board were moving on their own.

It was the most elaborate roleplay ever attempted, if one could count this as an attempt. It wasn't technically even happening…Although it definitely felt real enough.

He left the bar and stepped out into the sunlight. The sunlight, the heat, the sand on the wind: it all felt as real as outside this grandeur of falsehood. None of the subjects had any idea that the world they thought was real, this realm that they were 'living' in, was really a massive fabrication. Mentally constructed worlds and generic, programmed shadows that moved and spoke and acted like people from their memories.

The experiment had grown beyond all of his expectations. The subjects had grafted into the design as though they belonged there. All five of them absolutely ate it up. The most horrible, painful, and unspeakable horror imaginable, and they had given themselves to this fabricated reality like a lover. The blood, the death, the destruction: it was all a ruse constructed to coerce a reaction, get a response on which to base his research.

The pain, now…the emotional agony and the strain: that was all real. That was the whole purpose. What good was an experiment on the fibers of the heart if everything was fake, down to the last tragedy?

Nay, he pondered, walking aimlessly down the streets. It would be easy to lose oneself in this simulation. Ansem the Wise hadn't gone far enough. His programmed shadow of Twilight Town with that Nobody had been impressive, groundbreaking. In fact, it had opened a whole new platform of mental and emotional research. Unfortunately, the greatest mind of his generation was by then an old man full of remorse and conscience. It was unbecoming of a scientist of his caliber.

So when he had approached Ansem with the idea to create this alternate reality—dream state, mass REM dimension, what have you—he had been thoroughly and completely shot down. Too dangerous, the older man had said. Tampering with the heart like that was dangerous and unethical. The simulation with the Nobody, Roxas, had nearly driven the boy mad. The memory blocks had not been strong enough and some undesirables had snuck into the simulation.

But Roxas had been a Nobody. His emotions, his feelings, his thoughts, they weren't genuine, not really. Not on the level and scope that he needed to continue his research. To see how far the human heart will go, how tolerant the heart could be of evil, and how far it could be stretched before succumbing to the forces: this was the true nature of his experiment.

And his subjects were performing beautifully.

Squall Leonhart, the leader of the Restoration Committee and the only real glue that was holding the Alliance together at the moment. He was the one that caused the most concern. If he discovered the illegitimacy of the simulation, he'd ruin the entire experiment. But, the Keybearer had a large amount of respect for the man, so he was imperative as an influence in the research.

Tifa Lockhart, the mysterious woman who'd crash landed into Sora's life not long after the Roxas Incident. She was an interesting one. He was having a hard time fully understanding her motives. His programming of the attack to kill everyone, particularly Cloud Strife, had changed her colors to a strange hue that was exhilarating. A maternal or older sister influence for the Keybearer.

He couldn't ignore the developing subplot in this little play of his. Leonhart and Lockhart had given themselves over to some symbiotic relationship. He was almost as enthralled in it as he was this entire research about Sora. He was uncovering more depths and more gravities of the human soul that he had anticipated with this experiment.

Delightful.

Tabaeus McCallister, the little unknown private who'd managed to weasel her way into the simulation. He couldn't figure if it was a misfire of the hallucinogen or what, but her addition to the story was interesting. The tempting little morsel of non-import who was keeping Sora on his toes. Her loyalty to Leon and Tifa was both infuriating and intriguing to study. Mistake or not, he was finding himself enjoying the mayhem that she introduced to the main hypothesis.

Kairi, the princess of heart who was supposed to be connected to the hip to the Keybearer. 'Killing' Riku had been a daring move, but the introduction of such a horror only served to break down the barriers of her psyche as well as Sora's, to get a better grasp on their mental standing. She was impressive, he had to admit. More submissive than some but more headstrong than some. Her rejection of Sora and his startling psychosis had been the pressure that got the true cogs and gears of this operation moving.

And then there was Subject Alpha.

Sora, the angry young man who fed his bloodlust by the galloons. How he had managed to trick the system and keep the Keyblade through his fall from grace, the man had no idea, but he didn't have it now. This wasn't Sora's system, it was his. Therefore he made the rules. The poor fool had stumbled off his self righteous path and now he was plummeting headlong down another road that would only lead to Hell.

Now, the true nature of the experiment came into play.

When faced with horror, tragedy, and a stinging backhand from the Fates, how did the purest of pure hearts respond? Courage? Bravery? Bullheadedness? Rise from the ashes and overcome the evil? Or crack, break down, implode into one's deepest foundations and rebuild, rise from the ashes to accompany that evil.

It was the question that was driving them all mad.

Thus far, Sora had performed…surprisingly. A young man of his caliber, his strength of heart, and his reputation for overcoming the darkness…he had folded like a cheap deck of cards, succumbing to the hatred and revenge that pushed against the walls of his heart. In so doing, he had alienated all of his allies and lost all emotional and personal connections.

And the world was crumbling around him.

Simulation or not, there would be no waking up from this. He pondered as he walked into an alley behind the Bazaar. When the subjects woke, and they would wake eventually, they would have been permanently altered.

Sora: his mind torn limb from limb and rebuilt into a monster.

Kairi: fallen in love with a man who didn't even exist.

McCallister: lost in obscurity and stripped of all power.

Tifa: thrown back into the land of the living after spending so long in mourning.

Leon: out of the fire and back into the frying pan.

Friendships, feelings, tender moments that had built and transpired…all fake. All taking place only in their minds. Part of him despised himself for putting these five souls into such a situation, but it was all for the sake of science. He couldn't afford guilt at this point.

The attack on the Radiant Garden Headquarter Building had of course been real. But not in the scope and damage that he had expounded on. A single bomb had gone off in the meeting hall where the Council had been gathered. That disturbance was all it had taken to release the airborne hallucinogen.

That hallucinogen was the only catalyst connecting the five minds to the simulation. It had been aimed to take on all of the Alliance's Head Council, but most of the others—Gainsborough, Highwind, Strife, the other Keybearer—had had the natural genetic tolerance for the drug, rendering it useless. Lockhart, Leonhart, McCallister, the Princess, and the Keybearer , however, had not had that handy little gene, and had succumbed to the drug.

This had played out well. The five under the drug had entered the simulation, rendering their bodies into a sort of physical stasis, coma, whatever one wanted to call it. Any of the others who had not been had by the hallucinogen were programmed into the simulation as dead.

And so it went.

By now he found himself back at his own Gummi Ship. As he had expected, his latest order of explosives had come in. Roughly two tons of plastic wrapped C4. It wasn't quite as much as he'd been used to in the past, but the movement of more than that at one time would get the attention of…well, anybody. The crates had been stacked inside his Gummi.

He climbed up into the ship and inspected them himself.

These were for the Princess.

Sora had been pushed so far already, but Kairi was his last thread to humanity. He had alienated himself from the others, sure, but if there was a way to bring his little girlfriend back into the equation, then the statistics might change. Better, worse, he couldn't predict, but Kairi's emotional state had been compromised anyway.

The goal was to get the Keybearer's attention. If the explosives went awry, and pretty, pretty Princess wound up C4 fodder, then she would only wake up from the simulation. Disoriented and suffering from emotional trauma, definitely, but no physical harm.

See? He wasn't killing anyone.

He wasn't the bad guy here.

If this action spurred Subject Alpha, the little Keybearer, into action, then this experiment would go to another entire level. The first time Sora was pushed too far, he ended up bombing every world under Allied influence just to nail a few hundred operatives. That was dark enough, but what else could he be pushed to?

For the sake of science, of course. For the sake of research.

Starting up the engine on the Gummi, he began to lift the ship out of the Agrabah hangar.

They were in the home stretch.

Soon, his research would be complete.

After that…he'd figure it out.

**..:-X-:..**

It hadn't taken long before Tabaeus McCallister passed out on the couch in the living room.

If she was as drunk as Kairi suspected she was, she'd probably be out for the rest of the day and most of the night.

Rubbing her forehead, Kairi paced the living room behind the couch.

Everything was going wrong. After a full three months of going right, the downturn of this latest hill was upon her now. She should have seen it coming.

Now…what to do about it.

She couldn't call Sora…She refused to call Sora. Tabaeus was originally under Leon's training. He was probably the most appropriate person to call, but Kairi wasn't even sure she had his contact information anywhere still. Tifa would know, but from what Kairi had most recently heard, Tifa wasn't exactly on shining terms with the Alliance.

Folding her arms, Kairi finished her pacing and sank into the recliner opposite the couch, staring at the dead fireplace. This was her house. This was her new life. After all the horror that she had been forced to face in the last four years…didn't she deserve at least this one break?

**..:-X-:..**

Dr. Kya Leng of the Radiant Garden Memorial Hospital frowned, looking through the five charts on her desk. They were all for different patients, but the diagnosis was all the same. Impossible.

"Mass hysteria? Shared dreaming?" Dr. Thomas Urley said incredulously. "You're a cardiac surgeon, Leng, you shouldn't even be on this case."

"The foreign agents in their blood is affecting their hearts. They're my patients too." She snapped at the head of neurology.

Urley ran a hand through his hair, "These aren't the patients to fight over this. You can't share dreams. It's impossible outside of a Chris Nolan movie."

"Only because it's never happened before." Leng stood.

"Oh, then by all means, let's run some tests and see what happens, we have time!"

"Hallucinogenic drugs came back positive. They're all under the same influence, a black market chemical that induces irregular firing of the synapses in the brain." Leng countered.

Urley glared, "This is my field, not yours."

"Then do your job and find out why they haven't woken up."

"They're in comas, Leng!" Urley argued, "All five of them sustained head trauma from the attack on Allied Headquarters last week. That in itself explains the delayed return to consciousness."

"But not the elevated heartrates, the physical reactions, the REM—"

"You've been reading science fiction novels."

"And you're an asshole." Leng fired off.

The doctors both fell silent for a moment, composing themselves.

Urley was the first to break it. "If, and it's a big if, those patients are experiencing mass dreaming, then it's not by accident. The hallucinogenic in their blood had to have been administered by an outside party. There were no chemicals in the bomb itself."

"I'll have the others on the Council tested for the drug. They may have immunities against it."

"Leng."

She paused at the door, looking back at him. "What?"

"If this is what you're suggesting it is…We have no known way to bring them out of it. It's just like a coma, only a thousand times more complex."

"Then you better hope I'm wrong…but you always do that anyway." She left his office.

Dr. Urley sighed and massaged his temples, following her out of his office and looking through the glass into the observation room where the five patients were being kept.

One week ago, the Allied Headquarter Building in Radiant Garden had been bombed. Small homemade bomb, enough to kill a handful of people at close range, but it had detonated in the middle of the meeting auditorium. There had only been minor injuries. No deaths, nothing near fatal wounds. Almost all of the 100 representatives meeting at the time had walked out.

All except these five.

For some reason, they were just…unconscious.

Dr. Leng had taken over talking to the other representatives who kept questioning the condition of their colleagues. She was closer to them anyway. Highwind, Gainsborough, Kisaragi, Strife, a few others whom Urley didn't recognize immediately, they had been a constant presence in the hospital for the past week.

He looked in at the unmoving bodies. Only one of them seemed to be showing any signs of change. Kairi, her name was. The changes in her condition were hardly changes at all. Increased REM, fluctuating reaction to external stimuli. She was the least affected victim of the poison, but still affected enough to resist anti-sedatives.

Movement on one of the other beds made him look over. A series of alarms suddenly began to flare and he reached the room just before the coding team.

"It's Lockhart. She's coding." He rattled off a string of drugs for the team to summon up to try and stabilize her heart rate. Under her eyelids, her eyes were darting back and forth crazily.

Shared dreaming.

Completely nonsense.

Unless it wasn't…which only made this situation more difficult to solve.

Either way, something was going on inside these five minds, and it was beyond his medical instruction to figure out what it was.


	4. Burn

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are the Fractured Circle, Corbin Franks, and McCallister. Thanks to my lovely readers for sticking with this through the rough patches! Enjoy.**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Four: Burn**

By the time Leon reached Thebes, the smoke from the fire was a tall column of black in the overcast gray sky. The ashy branches twisted through the clouds, coiling down into the roots of the fire, engulfing the tavern. The fire brigades of Olympus had staked out the perimeter around the flaming building, keeping the crowds back. Those fighting the fire were also herding out any people still trapped in the bar, though most of the customers and workers had been shuttled off to the side, receiving potions and blankets.

All of this Leon took in with a glance as he maneuvered through the ogling onlookers. He ducked under the cautionary tape and striding toward the building. All of the ashy and traumatized victims were huddling close, giving their statements and in shock at their brush with death. There were a few doctors milling around and tending to those with burn wounds and injuries.

His insides were still churning and the knot only tightened when he spotted Tifa. She was arguing with the police, ash smudged across her cheek, but no blood or wounds that he could immediately see. Relief hit him like a wave and he staggered a step. Redirecting his trajectory, he hurried over to her, waving off any of the authorities who tried to stop him.

Tifa folded her arms, glancing around as she exchanged words with the officers. Her eyes locked with his and even still twenty feet away, he saw the wall slam into place behind her eyes. He frowned at that, but was too relieved to see her alive to care that she was pissed at him…again.

"Tifa—" He called out as soon as he was close.

She lifted a hand, "Don't." She started to walk in the other direction, away from him.

"Hey." He continued after her. "I came as soon as I heard—"

"Clearly. Now leave." She said over her shoulder.

Leon groaned and rolled his eyes, "Why are you pissed at me?"

She didn't respond, just kept walking.

"Tifa—" He grasped her arm.

She whirled, throwing off his hand, "Stop it, Leon. Why are you even here?"

The hurt and the fury in her eyes was unsettling, and Leon took a moment to take a breath.

"Because your bar burned down. I wanted to make sure you were all right."

Why did she suddenly need him to say that? He studied her face.

She narrowed her eyes, "Do I LOOK all right to you?"

Of course she didn't look all right. She was covered in ash and fire residue, her hair smelled like smoke and under all of that, she was pale. Even worse was the fact that all of that hurt and fury was aimed at him…She was blaming him for the fire?

Leon squared his shoulders at her, "This isn't my fault."

"Then whose is it?" She spread her arms. "Because I was fine on my own for three months. Because for three months, nothing happened and I was left alone. Left alone by the Fractured Circle, by Sora, by everyone." She fumed. "You show up one day out of the blue, and the next day, my place catches fire and burns down."

The pit forming in Leon's stomach twisted and he exhaled. "No, the operatives here in Thebes said it was clean when I left—"

"You had me watched?"

"Dammit, Tifa, you can't just walk out of the Alliance." He barked back. "The problems don't go away just because you stick your head in the sand. Of course I had you watched. For your protection."

She glared hard at him for a long moment, then turned on her heel and started walking away again. Frustration boiled up into Leon's chest and he walked after her. No, she did NOT get to walk away from him this time. He deserved better than that. Catching up to her, he hooked his arm through her elbow and turned them both into the open alleyway, out of the public eye.

"What're you—Let go." She struggled against him.

"We need to talk."

"I don't want to talk to you right now."

"Tough." He let go of her. "You've avoided me long enough."

The momentum pushed Tifa's back against the wall and she shoved his hand off of her. Molten fury rolled off of her, and he was momentarily torn between yelling at her and kissing her. He went for the gray area by backing off a step.

"You seemed content with me avoiding you for the past three months." She snarled.

He swallowed a smart remark at that and averted his eyes. If she only knew…these past three months had nearly killed him. After everything that happened…she was all he had left. Then she walked out, on the Alliance, on the war effort, on him…Yet somehow she was the one with the right to be upset.

"The fire was started by one of the Fractured Circle, witnesses described somebody who looks a lot like Corbin Franks." She went on. "They hadn't darkened by doorstep until you showed up."

"Fine, fine it's my fault." He made a throwaway gesture. "There, are you happy? Everything is my fault and you're completely innocent."

"Don't patronize me, you—"

"YOU left." Leon pointed at her, "Not me, not McCallister. YOU. When things got gritty, YOU turned tail."

Tifa's hand met his cheek with a crisp, slid slap. His head turned with the blow and he ended up staring at the brick wall of the alley. He tasted blood. He'd bitten the inside of his lip. She was breathing heavily. A long moment of silence passed between them.

Leon ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek, finding the tear. He pursed his lips and looked to Tifa again. The anger was still there, burning hot and wounded in her eyes, but there was also a note of guilt for lashing out like that. It was unwarranted. He'd probably deserved that.

"It is my fault." He said quietly.

She lifted a hand to her forehead, closing her eyes.

"Maybe I was followed when I saw you yesterday. Maybe you were always a target." He said delicately.

"Why?" She said, sounding deflated, defeated. "I'm not involved anymore."

"But I am." He replied, searching her face. "You were attacked in order to get to me, to get some sort of response from me…Or maybe to send a message…I haven't figured that part out yet."

She looked at him, her hands slowly planting on her hips. "Why me then? Everyone knows where you live, where you work, who you work with."

"Radiant Garden is a powerhouse of protection." He said. "Sora's—He set up a military empire there. He had all the power, the government, the army; they were all on his side."

"Because they voted him that power…" Tifa said, the heat starting to weakly edge back into her voice.

He grimaced, "I know, but the fact of the matter is that you're in danger here."

"I'm in danger everywhere." She threw up her hands. "So why me?"

"Because of me." He countered, "The Fractured Circle knows that the most direct way to get to me is through you."

Her eyes flitted from one of his eyes to the other, softer now but still guarded. "Why?"

You know why, he wanted to say…but he had to stay it all out loud, otherwise she might not believe him anymore.

"Because you're all I have left." He said, staring at her. "Because just threatening you will get me across the entire Alliance. Because when you left, I—" He hesitated. "It's been Hell without you. You're my weakness and everybody knows it."

She breathed evenly, almost like she was having trouble sorting out her thoughts. Like a dizzy spell. She leaned back against the wall. Concerned, he took a step toward her, holding out a hand in case she needed steadying.

"Are you all right—"

"Fine—" She said, slightly breathless, "Just—shock from the fire settling in…"

He wasn't convinced, but he just ran a hand through his hair and looked at her. "You should rest. You've been through a lot today."

"Today? Try the past four years." She gave a rueful snort, dropping her eyes to the floor.

He drew a slow breath and reached out, grasping her shoulder. She looked up at him.

"So what now?" She sounded hoarse, "I can't stay here. I don't know if I want to, but…going back to Radiant Garden—"

"It'll be safer there." He offered. When her eyebrows began to come together, he lifted a hand, "I'm not going to force you. You don't have to come with me…but it's safer for you there. It's home there."

His words struck, he could tell that much.

She was thinking it over at least.

"I need time—I need to think." She massaged her temples. "Give me a few hours."

It was a few hours more than he wanted to give her. In all honesty, he wanted to whisk her to safety right now, away from the danger and the pain and the…all of it. But that desire was what kept pushing her away. How was he supposed to protect her when she didn't want protecting? But he couldn't back off anymore. He was too vested.

"All right." He said. "I've got to put together the report on this attack…I'll be in Thebes until nightfall with that."

She made a noncommittal noise and he took that as an affirmative. He turned slightly, to step out of the alley and leave her…The action went against every fiber in his being at the moment, but he couldn't make her come home. She made no move to stop him as he stepped past her.

He slowed when they were shoulder to shoulder. "Whatever you decide, let me know."

She folded her arms, almost like against a chill, and looked at him. She nodded and brought her knuckles to her lips, looking away in thought.

Summarily dismissed, Leon inhaled and walked away from her. His cheek was stinging and his stomach was still in knots, and just being that close to her had nearly fried his nerves raw. It was killing him to be away from her, but flat out painful to be around her…What was she doing to him?

More importantly, what was he doing to her? Just being associated with him had put her life in danger. No more. He walked back out toward the scene. The fire had all but consumed the building, and the brigade was still throwing water onto the lost cause.

The edges of his vision went hazy all of a sudden and he slowed his stride, blinking and rolling his neck. A low humming noise crept into his hearing, slurring the sounds of the crowd around him.

"—_back in V-fib."_

"_Push 2 cc's of—"_

"_No change in brain activity—"_

Leon shook his head and squinted at the ruined tavern, forcing the world back into focus. The disjointed voices faded after a moment and he straightened. Now was no time for a psychotic break. If he was going to have one of those, it would have happened years ago.

Steeling himself, he approached the police to start getting information about the arson and the attack for his report to the Allied Council.

**..:-X-:..**

It felt like two tiny men with pick axes were hacking away at either side of Tabaeus's brain, right in beat with her pulse. The burning light against her eyelids wasn't helping either. Her body ached and her stomach felt ready to rebel at any moment.

Where was she? She couldn't remember what she'd done last night, where she'd gone…but it didn't smell like her apartment.

Perplexed, she squinted her eyes and slowly—ever so slowly—opened them. The sunlight from the open curtains stabbed at her eyes like knives. She immediately closed her eyes again and groaned, curling into a ball on the couch…couch…couch?

Opening her eyes again and suffering the wrath of the sun, she blinked several times rapidly and checked out her surroundings. She was lying on a yellow upholstered couch, in a wooden floored living room…complete with fireplace and white curtains. Beige walls. Some other wicker furniture and books littered about…Completely unrecollectible.

Pushing herself up into a relative sitting position, she held her head in both hands and looked behind the couch. The living room opened into a short hallway and throughway into a dining room. Stairs disappeared up the wall onto the second floor. No one else was in sight, but she could smell the salty breeze of the ocean through the open window.

Tabaeus shifted, trying to remember what had happened before she fell asleep. Something small and hard was poking her thigh. She looked down and saw her cell phone, open, wedged between her leg and the couch. Frowning, she picked it up and scrolled through it. She had made one call around three o'clock this morning to…Jake Alms.

Grimacing, she folded the phone closed and shoved it into her pocket. She could taste the musty morning, after-whiskey taste in her mouth, and the hangover riddling her body let her know that she had probably drunk dialed Alms.

"Great…" She mumbled, standing.

She waited until the world stopped spinning and then stretched. She very vaguely remembered clocking out at work—yesterday—and going to the bar in Traverse Town. It was the least exposed town to the Alliance. She was still recognized there, but at least the habitants there had the decency to pretend like they had no idea who she was. After that, it got hazy…Whatever bender she'd gone on last night, she'd gone on it hard.

Luckily, the Council required every soldier to take at least 24 hours away from headquarters every ten days. She was a month overdue for that, so they had imposed a mandatory three day weekend on her. At least she would have three days to sleep off this headache.

Of course, she wouldn't do that…couldn't do that. Why? Because of the General, because of Sora. The last communication from him had been something about tracking one of the Fractured Circle's spies and 'interrogating' him. The tone of the message had given her chills, but everything he did gave her chills nowadays.

Maybe that was why she had gotten drunk and ended up…here.

She eyed the fireplace…Her gaze landed on the folded paper crane on the mantle and she inhaled slowly.

"How are you feeling?"

She spun back around—too fast, her sluggish brain reminded her painfully—and she saw Kairi leaning against the wall in the hallway, looking at her. She was…in Kairi's house. Why, of all houses, was she in Kairi's house?

"F-fine." She said, voice raspy. "How did I—" She made a vague gesture.

"You slept all day and most of the night." Kairi said, straightening and stepping into the living room, behind the couch, "I was going to call a doctor if you didn't wake up soon."

Tabaeus flinched, "Thanks." She held her arms about herself. "I'm sorry…for all of this. I need to get going—"

"Stay." Kairi took an involuntary step forward.

Tabaeus picked up her jacket, which was lying across the arm of a chair, but paused. "Why?"

"You look exhausted." The other woman tilted her head compassionately. "You showed up on our doorstep, drunk out of your mind. You rambled about Sora and his feelings and your feelings and—and then you passed out and slept for almost 24 hours. You look even more exhausted now than before."

Tabaeus sighed and rubbed her neck. "I'm fine."

"You're run ragged and pale and you need a break."

"I'm on a break." She looked to Kairi with pained eyes. "The Council forced me to take a few days off."

"And this is how you spend it?" Kairi put her hands on her hips.

"How else?" She shrugged meekly.

An odd beat passed between them.

"Stay here." Kairi was offering this time. "For a few days. Get away from it all."

"You don't understand—" She shook her head, picking up her bag.

"Then explain it to me." Kairi intercepted her.

They had been here before.

It hadn't been a mistake to tell Kairi about Sora's instabilities the first time…but it would be a mistake to tell her about this time. It was more than revenge. It was more than a secret mission. It was more than obsession. This was about national security, about stomping out the threat of the Fractured Circle for good this time.

Was Sora insane? Yes, Tabaeus couldn't deny that he wasn't right anymore. Was he dangerous? To some. To himself maybe. Did he deserve her help?...No, no he didn't. But he was the only one taking action against the Fractured Circle. The Alliance was practically useless now. It pained her to think that. The Major General was emotionally compromised…Then again, maybe SHE was emotionally compromised…Did it really matter anymore?

If she attempted to tell Kairi that she was still helping Sora behind the Alliance's back, behind Leonhart and Lockhart's backs, then the other woman would never leave her alone about it. Worse, she might tell the Major General or the Council. Tabaeus couldn't let that happen.

"I can't." She exhaled, looking around for her boots.

"Why not?" Kairi remained where she was.

"It's…involved."

"You mean illegal." Kairi sighed, rubbing her eyes with two fingers. "Please, Tabaeus…You can't keep helping him. It's killing you."

"So I should just abandon him?"

The words came across more harshly than she'd intended, and she averted her eyes as soon as they left her mouth. Kairi's posture stiffened out of the corner of her eye, but there was no taking it back.

"Tabaeus…stay. Here. Please." The princess of heart said haltingly. "Just a few days. Clear your head. Relax. Take a break from…him."

Tabaeus desperately wanted to apologize for her words, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She had been trained to never apologize for her actions, words, or the consequences of either in the line of duty. She had only apologized for her drunken behavior because…well it was just embarrassing. She had been trained to handle complications and undesirable results. And she was good at it: that was the only reason she had survived two years under Leonhart's internship…God, she missed those days.

"All right." Her walls crumbled. It was as close to an apology as she could manage. "I can…I can stay one night…but then I have…other things to tend to."

Kairi looked disappointed that it was just one night, but also satisfied that one night was all she was going to get. "Okay."

Tabaeus found her boots, but didn't immediately pull them on. She let them lie and held her coat in both hands, feeling suddenly awkward.

"Where's Tanner?" She said, just to break the quiet.

"Work." Kairi bobbed her head, "Are you…hungry?"

The nausea made a fighting comeback, but Tabaeus knew she hadn't eaten recently enough to have anything to throw up in her stomach, so she just swallowed compulsively. She looked to Kairi and lowered her arms, her jacket hanging in her hands.

"A little, I guess."

Kairi nodded slowly, "I was about to fix breakfast anyway. You look like you could use some coffee."

She turned and walked into the throughway to the dining room, which was connected to the small kitchen. Tabaeus hesitated, and then followed after her.

"You have a nice house…" She made idle conversation…because there was no other kind of conversation to have at the moment.

"Thank you." Kairi said, sounding a little lighter as she began to shuffle through the cabinets.

Tabaeus loitered near the door as the other woman set about making some myriad of breakfast foods that Tabaeus hadn't enjoyed in…months, maybe years.

The big, comfortable house. The loyal, loving husband. The supportive family around her. Kairi had made it off pretty good after she escaped the influence of the Alliance. Deep down, Tabaeus felt a well of envy toward her…all right, maybe not very deep down at all. Of course she was jealous, but…she had no right to be jealous. She had picked her path. Kairi had picked hers as well.

They'd made their beds and now were lying in them.

"Why do you do this to yourself?" Kairi suddenly asked.

Tabaeus sighed and sat heavily on one of the stools at the kitchen counter. "We aren't all princesses, Kairi."

"And what does that mean?"

"It means we aren't all special." Tabaeus smiled ruefully. "Some of us have to work, bleed, sweat, and cry to earn the time of day…and even then…life can still suck pretty hard."

Kairi winced, hesitated, and then asked. "Have you noticed anything weird lately?"

"Like what?" She straightened.

"Things…changing? Colors changing? Hearing things that…aren't there?" Kairi looked wary.

Tabaeus frowned, "Er…no, why?"

"Nothing." Kairi shook her head and looked at the counter. "How do you take your coffee?"

**..:-X-:..**

Dr. Leng straightened, pushing her hair out of her eyes and looking at the monitor. Tifa's heart was back in the safe range, though her brain activity had been fluctuating wildly.

"She's stabilizing." Dr. Urley said, replacing the blanket over Tifa's chest.

Dr. Leng set the shock paddles aside and exhaled, looking to the other four bodies. All stable. Her eyes drifted to the window of the observation room into the hallway. The others were on the other side of the glass: all watching her worriedly.

"I need to talk to them." She said. Urley grunted in the affirmative.

She stepped out into the hallway, facing the rest of the Restoration Committee that had been unaffected by the airborne hallucinogen. This was going to take some explaining.


	5. Square

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are McCallister, Duke, Jake Alms, Nestor, and the Fractured Circle. More plot twists! Enjoy.**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Five: Square**

The bar was toast.

Tifa sat on the stone steps of the business across the street from her bar. The fire brigade of Thebes had completely drenched what remained of the place. Murky water was running out of the skeletal remains of the structure. The entire interior of the bar had been demolished. It was unsalvageable.

Unsalvageable.

She sighed and held her face in her hands. Suddenly everything was so messed up. She thought she was okay. She had gotten away from the madness. One hour with Leon had dragged her kicking and screaming back into the thick of it. And while a good majority of her had been relieved to see him—just seeing him seemed to make the situation less terrifying—a good percentage of her had been furious at him. Was still furious at him, actually.

He may not have thrown that flaming bottle or doused the entire back room of the bar in flammable alcohol, but he had all but told her that it was his fault that this had happened. She wanted to hate him. She wanted to push him away and tell him to leave her alone, never darken her doorstep again. But she couldn't want that…not really.

Now he had given her a choice.

Only it wasn't a choice at all. Not really.

Stay here, on her own, fend for herself…or return with him to Radiant Garden, to the Alliance.

Well, she had no real munny to work with, she had put too much of her savings into the bar. She'd need a new job just to make ends meet at this point. She was back to square one, and Leon was offering her an alternative that was the only real option she had.

But was it the right one?

She had found it surprisingly easy to adjust to life away from Radiant Garden. She had never been comfortable working in the strict and overbearing Alliance. Nestor was a pain in the ass, and the new Council had been intolerable, with their policies and their administrations…All talk and no action. Leon was the only thing that made any of it worthwhile…and now…

She had been trying to decide if their friendship was salvageable or not. Things had been tense when she left, and now they were only more complicated because she had stayed gone. He hadn't exactly come running to beg her to come back…She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

She had missed him.

It was annoying as Hell.

She couldn't deny that he had been there through the worst years of her life: the attack, the deaths of all of her friends, the massacre, the whole mess with Sora—But there had been good days too…He had become her closest friend, partner, and confidante…and now…She was alone.

Whose fault was that?

She assumed he was still at their apartment—his apartment now—and briefly wondered if he had a new roommate. Knowing him, probably not. He had the patience to tolerate people that he didn't get along with, but there was no motivation to try to make a living situation work with someone you didn't get along with.

For some reason, the idea of Leon in that apartment with just Duke and a spare bedroom made her squirmy inside. What had she been thinking, leaving like that? She had just up and left, like a whirlwind. Of course she had her reasons: Sora was a maniac, the Council was falling apart, and the emotional burden of it all had been more than she bargained for. She had tried to help, and her advice had been ignored. Not just ignored, completely shunted.

But when she left that mess, the Alliance, and the big headed Council, she had left Leon alone to tread in those waters. She felt guilty as Hell about that…but he had chosen to stay. And she had chosen to leave. He could have come with her…but—no, he wouldn't have. Radiant Garden was home, and home was home was home to him.

The fact that she had been the one to leave, after all her issues with abandonment and being left alone, struck her as hypocritical. Now here she was, alone, sitting outside staring at the hollowed out husk that had been her place of business just 24 hours earlier. Maybe he was right. She should go back to Radiant Garden…but not for the Alliance or Sora or even the cause…only for Leon.

She had no other reason to go back, she concluded. All of her other connections were dead, except Private McCallister, but she wasn't exactly warm and friendly. She was loyal, but to what or whom—Tifa couldn't rightly be sure anymore.

Then there was this issue of the churning in her stomach that had been plaguing her since Leon walked into her bar yesterday. No matter how much she tried to ignore it, she couldn't. Whatever remained of her friendship with Leon had—become something else. Or wanted to become something else. She couldn't quite diagnose what she wanted at the moment, but whatever it was, he was in it.

Even more concerning than that was this sudden alteration in perception that she had been experiencing lately. The fire that had swallowed her place had looked like pale orange and yellow, almost pastel, instead of the sharp and angry red and orange. The clinking of glasses and stomps of feet sounded dull and as though she was hearing through cotton. Even the air seemed…different…thinner as it passed through her lungs.

Either something was wrong with her or…something was wrong with everything else. The atmosphere of Olympus was different from Radiant Garden. The raw exposure to the open Underworld had to be an influential factor in that. Often, people who spent too long dabbling close to the Gates to Hades had respiratory or muscle weakness for a few hours after leaving the site.

But if there was one place she avoided, it was the Underworld.

With a long exhale, she stood, stretched, and stepped away from the stairs. The sun was just beginning to set over the skyline of Thebes. Leon would be wrapping up his report and wanting her answer soon.

So what was her answer?

_I don't want to stay in Thebes._

_I want to be on my own._

_I don't want to rejoin the Alliance._

_I want to be with Leon again._

_I don't want either of us to get killed._

_I want this to be over already._

_I don't want to be involved._

_I want to be involved._

"Well?" Leon was standing right in front of her.

Tifa blinked. She hadn't realized that she had already walked across the lot toward the hangar where Leon was preparing his Gummi for the flight back to Radiant Garden. Now he was facing her, looking concerned with her sudden muteness.

Now she KNEW something was off…His eyes looked green. But they were supposed to be gray-blue. Like the sea after a storm. Now they definitely looked green.

A low buzz thrummed through her ears for a brief moment and she closed her eyes, trying to block it out. Not right now. She couldn't deal with hallucinations right now.

"I want—"

"—_looks like it's wearing off on its own—"_

"_He's not responding to the antibiotics."_

"—_Kairi is actually beginning to show signs of waking—"_

_The ground shifted suddenly to the left._

"_Run the blood work again. I don't care what the differences are, get me the similarities!"_

"Tifa!"

She opened her eyes, which she hadn't realized she'd closed, and found herself leaning against the side of the Gummi, hands on her knees. Leon was leaning over in front of her, his hands on her shoulders steadying her. Her throat felt constricted, like she'd just gotten sick. She drew a slow breath and straightened.

"Whoa, easy." Leon kept a grip on her arm.

She didn't shake him off this time. "What happened?"

"You went white and nearly passed out." He said, looking unsettled.

"Almost?"

"You sort of staggered off balance but caught yourself. It was just a few seconds ago." He replied. "If you went out, you didn't go out completely."

Tifa was already composing herself. "I accept."

"What?"

"Yes."

"…yes, what?"

"Yes, I'll come back to Radiant Garden with you." She reiterated, stressing the 'with you' just a little more than was necessary. She felt inclined to emphasize it.

It looked like ten pounds rolled off his shoulders at that.

"Okay." He nodded once and glanced toward the ship. "There's a—"

"But—"

"There's a 'but'." He repeated, sounding unsurprised.

"I'm not 'back' in the Alliance." Tifa pointed out.

"Nestor wouldn't have that anyway." He said, as they stepped up into the ship. "So why are you coming back?"

"Why?" She looked sideways at him, "You spend all the time and effort to convince me to come back, and when I finally agree, you ask me why?"

"It's a simple question."

"Nothing is simple with you." She found herself grinning as she sank into one of the seats in the cockpit. "But if you must know…I miss Duke."

He snorted and took the other seat in the cockpit, gunning the engine. "She misses you too."

As they strapped themselves in and he began to lift the ship out of the Olympus atmosphere, he looked over at her, concern in his eyes again.

"You're sure you're all right?"

"It was a dizzy spell. I'm fine. Just…tired." She waved him off. Then, "Has your perception been off lately?"

"I CAN fly a Gummi—"

"No, no, I'm not being glib…I really want to know." She looked at him.

Leon paused and looked at her again, "Why? Has yours been…off?"

"I don't know—" His eyes still looked green. She faced the windshield. "Never mind."

He looked like he wanted to press further, but the traffic outbound of Olympus was thick, and he was forced to focus his attentions on flying. The humming returned briefly, and through that, she almost thought she heard the voices again…but that all soon faded to the quiet of the ship again. Tifa sank into her seat, contemplating…everything, and coming up with…nothing.

**..:-X-:..**

"It wasn't me! It wasn't me, I swear it!"

Sora stood in front of the Fractured Circle spy, who was bound to a wooden chair, chest heaving with the fear and the effort it was taking to keep himself composed. Sora kept his arms folded, facing the man.

"Someone has been targeting the people who were in the Allied administration that destroyed the Fractured Circle." He said softly. "There're so many attempts on Leon's life that there's a whole squad on assignment to protect him. If I didn't have someone on the inside, I'd probably be dead. And this afternoon, someone burned down Tifa Lockhart's place." He looked to the man.

The prisoner thrashed, "I don't know anything! You're a maniac! Let me go!"

Sora swallowed the urge to 'coerce' the guy into spilling his secrets. Instead, he took a step closer to him. "No other enemy of the Alliance would have that kind of specific target. Only the Fractured Circle, and most of them are dead…but the leader's not. Who is he? I want a name."

"I don't know! It wasn't me who torched Lockhart's place!" The man barked. "He has no name! I swear, I don't KNOW!"

"Is he a shapeshifter?" Sora raised his voice a notch.

"I've never seen his face! He used Corbin Franks' name!"

"And who is Corbin Franks?"

"His second in command! If anybody attacked Lockhart, it was him!"

"Where is he now?"

A beat.

Sora grabbed the man's shoulder, "Where is he now?"

"Which one?"

"The leader, you idiot." Sora shoved him back against the chair. "I want his location."

"I don't know. No one knows. He's always on the move." The man slumped in his seat.

"Coward." Sora turned, taking a few steps away from him.

The man whimpered. Sora drew a slow breath and looked at the spy again. So the Fractured Circle was still alive…if barely. And the leader was in hiding…Considering that he could look like anyone at any time, that made hunting him down difficult.

"What is his next move?"

"I don't—"

"Stop telling me what you don't know and tell me what you DO know." Sora demanded. "Who is he planning to attack next?"

The spy's eyes were screaming 'I don't know', but he remained silent. Sora exhaled in frustration and swiftly knocked the man out. He slumped, unconscious in his bindings. Killing him served no purpose…In all honesty, the thought of killing another human being—again—made him feel filthy and evil.

Securing the ropes around the spy's wrists and ankles, he loosed him from the chair and carried the body to the alley behind the local police station of Traverse Town. Dumping the man there with the words 'spy' written across his forehead, Sora quickly left the site, sneaking across the Second District.

He walked past the strip of shops and stores in the district, his eyes wandering to an antique art business. The windows were full of glass and ceramic displays. A flock of paper cranes of various sizes were hanging around the larger art pieces. They swayed softly as a customer walked into the store.

The sight of the dozens of cranes brought McCallister to mind. Frowning, he pulled out his phone and checked the screen. No new communications from the private. Her last communiqué had been with regards to the movement of explosives out of Land of Dragons. That had been nearly two days ago. Her increasing detachment was something of a concern, but if she was doing her job, he wouldn't bother with her psyche.

What is wrong with you?

His steps slowed and he grimaced, moving away from the art shop and toward the First District and world entrance where his Gummi was stashed. He hated this hatred that was consuming him. He had no idea how to stop it. He was an exile, an outlaw, and had proven himself to be a menace and a monster to everyone he'd ever cared about.

What was he doing?

He had sworn himself to avenge his fallen friends and comrades, but in the process, he had permanently damaged their names by associating them with his obsession. Now any allies he had that survived had cursed him, and even Kairi had been compelled to leave him. He had been branded a lost cause. Only McCallister had stayed around, but he let her know with painful frequency that he was stuck with her, not by choice but by necessity.

Sora grimaced as he reached the Gummi and climbed up into the craft. It was too late to save Riku, Aerith, Cloud, and the others…but he could still protect Kairi and the others…If only he could let go of the fact that the Fractured Circle had destroyed them…But he couldn't…He just couldn't accept it.

The sounds of the Gummi churning to life were suddenly muted by a low humming noise, and the world briefly quivered around him. Sora closed his eyes and willed the sound to recede. The delusion subsided and when he opened his eyes again, new clarity had reached him.

The leader of the Fractured Circle was still out there, on the move but thriving in his mediocre influence. He had orchestrated the attack on Tifa, and was probably behind the frequent attempts on Leon. He had yet to attack Sora directly, but then again, with McCallister's assistance, he had been virtually undetectable. Sora had no Keyblade and no allies besides the soldier.

In order to defeat the leader, he would have to track him down. In order to track him down, he needed McCallister. In order to secure McCallister, he had to find her and talk to her, face to face. In order to do that, he needed the colors slurring in his vision to clear.

As the world righted itself, he gunned the ship into reverse, backing it out of the hangar and toward open space. The Alliance had bigger fish to fry than hunting him at the moment…although he wouldn't put it past the new Council to put a price on his head. Leon wouldn't allow that, but then again, he was a better man than Sora.

The thought made Sora's insides constrict further.

The Gummi ship navigated away from Traverse Town and he looked at the shimmering stars surrounding him. The feeling of total loneliness gripped him momentarily, but he forced it back. Loneliness was a sad emotion he couldn't afford now. Whatever the Fractured Circle was up to, he had to stop it, whether the Alliance was behind him or not.

This had to end.

**..:-X-:..**

Dr. Leng finished explaining, and the group in front of her just stared for a long moment.

"So they're just…asleep? Is that basically what you're saying?" Cid broke the silence.

Aerith and Yuffie both looked from Dr. Leng, to Cid, and back to the doctor.

"Yes, but…it's more complicated than that." Dr. Leng explained. "During the attack last week, an airborne hallucinogenic drug was released during the explosion."

"Like…poison?" Yuffie's eyes were wide, and she looked fearfully in at the unmoving bodies on the beds in the observation room.

"No, no, it's not poison. Less serious but more complicated."

"That doesn't sound reassuring." Cloud pressed.

"If it was released during the attack—we were all there too," Aerith folded her arms, tilting her head. "Why weren't we affected?"

"It's a chemically enhanced drug. You were all tested for it earlier." Dr. Leng said. "Its behavior is…unpredictable. Honestly, we haven't quite figured out why it targeted them but remained dormant with you all. Your immune systems had genetic guards against the drug, negating its effects."

"So…it's brain poison…Great, how do you fix it?" Cid said gruffly.

Dr. Leng inhaled slowly, "We're working on that."

"Well work faster." Cloud said impatiently, looking in at Tifa and the others.

"Because it was an airborne drug, it has an expiration date." Dr. Leng explained. "Eventually the drug will wear off and they should wake up."

" 'Should'?" Yuffie pressed.

"When is 'eventually'?" Cloud asked.

Aerith was looking in at Kairi and Sora. "And they'll be all right? Their minds will—"

"Considering the memory reconstruction that Sora went through with Castle Oblivion and the subsequent memory lapses that Leon and Kairi experienced, I can't be certain." The doctor said, "But I'm confident that their minds should be only temporarily affected."

"Affected? Temporarily? By what?" Yuffie asked.

"There seems to be an…anomaly."

"What the Hell does that mean?" Cid folded his arms.

"It means…while they are asleep, their brain waves have reached a point of synchronization. Their bodies are reacting to REM sleep and—"

"In English." Cid interrupted, and Aerith looked to the doctor as well.

"They may be sharing dreams." Dr. Leng said bluntly.

They all looked at her flatly.

"Shared what?" Yuffie blurted.

"Dreams. When conscious, you could consider it mass hysteria. Their minds have…connected somehow, maybe through the drug, but we can't be sure."

"So what're they dreaming? What's going on in those skulls?" Cid gestured.

"There's no way to tell, but—"

"But what?" Aerith's voice sounded strained.

"While physically they're perfectly healthy, whatever they're experiencing is elevating their heart rates, which leads me to believe it could be night terrors."

"So much for 'your dreams can't hurt you'." Yuffie mumbled.

"But…you're a cardiac surgeon," Aerith pointed out gently, "I'm sorry, but…where is Dr. Urley?"

That was a good question.

Dr. Leng sighed, "We're collaborating on the case. He's running a few tests now."

"Can we—I mean—" Aerith looked close to tears, "Do you think they would hear us if we…were in there? Talking to them, I mean."

The head of cardiology doubted it, but the Restoration Committee had been put through enough Hell this week. They needed some good news other than 'they may not wake up'.

"It's possible." She conceded. "All five of them are stable. We're keeping close eyes on Kairi and Tifa especially. They've been exhibiting the strongest signs of waking."

"When?" Cloud looked at her. "When do you think they'll wake up?"

The others all looked at her again, waiting for her answer.

"It could be five minutes from now, it could be five days from now. There's no way to know for sure." She said, wishing she could sound more convincing.

It wasn't what they wanted to hear, but it was all she had to offer for now.

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** Oh, this chapter took forever to finish! School has been consuming my soul lately, but I should be updating more frequently now that the bulk of my semester is over. So...I threw the rest of the Radiant Garden gang in there...because I missed them. The story should move faster now that one of the big plot twists has been revealed.


	6. Repercussion

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are McCallister, Urley, Leng, and the Fractured Circle. Enjoy!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Six: Repercussion**

That afternoon Destiny Islands, Tabaeus slipped out of the house not long after Tanner returned home. The couple needed to talk some things over, and she was more than happy to take some time to herself. She needed to think, and Kairi's inquiring eyes weren't helping.

So she decided to go for a walk.

Destiny Islands was a beautiful world. This was the first time she had ever been here. The colors, the sounds, the smells, and the people were just lovely. Now that her hangover had abated, she could truly enjoy them.

The worn path that she had found was winding her through the tropical jungles outside the main village. The low hanging branches and untamed foliage brushed against her legs and arms as she walked, and the air was so clear and pure that it almost burned her throat.

This was where Sora had grown up. Hard to believe he had come from such a peaceful, calm, and colorful place. Then again, she had never known him before the attack. She had heard that he had been a warm, energetic, and optimistic person with a purer heart than anyone who had wielded the Keyblade before him.

She had missed something there.

Maybe…maybe he wasn't stable. Maybe the man that had been her superior officer for two years really wasn't this solid force that she thought he was. Maybe she had been blinded by her own emotions, her loyalties, and her…whatever. She had been blind, and she had fallen for him blindly.

He was obsessed and he was dangerous, and she had followed him into Hell. Like a good soldier. She had followed Major General Leonhart into Hell several times, and she had never regretted it. But this…she was regretting this. Maybe if she had known Sora before he went…insane…then maybe she would feel justified for following after him like a lost puppy.

As it was, she just felt pathetic.

The winding path suddenly emptied into a clear lot of well kept grass, a small field littered with smoothed stones. The canopies of the surrounding trees had been trimmed, allowing a wide column of sunlight to reach the space, and also providing a spectacular view of the village down the hill.

She had found the local cemetery.

Tabaeus slowed, standing still outside the wooden gate to the private field. Drawing a slow breath, she stepped inside, eyes flitting across the modest headstones. Grass had grown over all of the plots; there was no freshly overturned dirt. Death wasn't a ghostly, enigmatic force to her. She was a soldier. Death and the idea of death was a constant, tangible presence: bullets, knives, psychotic Keybearers with angry blue eyes…She knew death and it terrified her.

The headstones had been placed in neat lines, respectfully and carefully maintained. The grass around the stones was short, and there were plenty of cut flowers and other little baubles left by mourning loved ones to silence her own self-pitying thoughts. She was alive. She should be thankful for that.

Riku was probably buried here.

Tabaeus had never known, nor even met, Sora's childhood friend. All she knew was what others had told her after the attack. He had been quiet, he had been strong willed, and he had flirted with the darkness of his heart as well and won. She walked to the ridge overlooking the village down the hillside and folded her arms.

The attack had almost killed Sora. She had nearly lost him…She hung her head. What the Hell was wrong with her? She should hate Sora, be planning righteous vengeance on him for lying to her, using her, and a hundred other things. Instead of hating him, she was falling in-

Earsplitting thunder cracked across the air and she lifted her head. A massive plume of fire and smoke erupted from the left side of Destiny Islands village. For a microsecond, the shockwave flickered in an outward circle from the epicenter before rushing up the hillside. The ground jerked violently under her feet and the roar of the explosion threatened to rip her eardrums apart.

A yelp of surprise clogged her throat as Tabaeus threw herself to the ground. Pebbles and rock fragments from the ridge peppered up into the air like scattershot and the trees overhead swayed in the aftershock. Rolling up behind a thick boulder, she popped up into a squat and paused a beat, looking at the cemetery headstones. She took a moment to get her breathing under control and note the distorted slur to her hearing. She brought a hand to her ear but felt no blood. So her eardrums hadn't been blown, but her hearing was definitely compromised.

Shifting her shoulder against the rock, she peered down at the village below. Flames had engulfed an entire sector of the town, at least three homes were completely swallowed by the fire. The cacophony of horrified screams began to drift up the hillside and her stomach turned. Her hand was still at her side, where her gun holster usually was. Not feeling the reassuring cold steel handle of the weapon made her feel naked and vulnerable.

She was a civilian in this world…No, that wasn't right. She had been Major General Leonhart's intern for two years and survived. She had been trained to be a soldier in every situation. Here's hoping it would pay off…She tried to locate the epicenter of the explosion while the local fire brigade hastened to organize and put out the flames.

"No…" She breathed, straightening and moving down the hillside. "Nononono…"

Kairi's house was the epicenter.

Which meant it was either a gas leak…or it was an orchestrated bombing.

Which meant Kairi had been a target.

Or Tabaeus had been a target.

Which meant the Fractured Circle was here.

The shapeshifter was here. The killer was here, on the island…He had done this.

Her cell phone was in her hand and she was dialing Sora before she knew she had reached for it. The phone rang against her ear and she picked up her pace, running down the hill toward the village. The phone rang three times before the line picked up.

"Tabaeus." Sora answered.

She nearly lost her balance at his response. He had never called her by her first name before…and he sounded…tired. Not physically, he sounded emotionally drained. She had never heard that tone in his voice before. She recovered quickly enough.

"He's here."

"Where?"

"Destiny Islands."

"Why are you there?" He snapped.

"That's not the point. He's here and he attacked." She snapped, not in the mood to play submissive soldier with him. "He attacked Destiny Islands."

"How—"

"Bombing. It looks like Kairi's house, if not dangerously close."

"Did you see her?" Sora demanded. "Was she home?"

"She was…I'm pretty…I'm pretty sure."

"How sure is pretty sure?"

"Dammit, Sora, there's no time for this. He's here and if you want him, you have to come get him now. So come get him before he runs again." She ordered.

He was momentarily silent, and then said quietly. "Find her."

"I'm on it." She hung up, slammed the phone into her pocket, and continued to run.

She had barely reached the base of the hillside when the ground seemed to shift again…but not from another explosion. This time, it felt like her center of gravity shifted on its own. A wave of vertigo overtook her, like she'd jumped to her feet after lying down for several hours. The vibrant green of the grass around her blurred a rich blue color momentarily. She blinked a few times rapidly and the grass turned green again.

Tabaeus bent over, grabbing her knees and vomiting onto the grass. A cool breeze drifted across her skin and something that smelled like plastic assaulted her senses. She coughed and straightened again, a low hum creeping over her skull. Collecting herself again, she pulled out her phone, scrolling to the Major General's number. Her thumb hovered over the Call button. She cursed and pocketed it again, running toward the flaming mass where Kairi and Tanner's house had been just minutes earlier.

Let them be alive, she prayed, jumping over some of the debris, broken concrete and busted drywall that had been flung from the buildings. Villagers were rushing to and fro with buckets of water, garden hoses, and wide eyes. She navigated through the debris and the civilians toward the epicenter.

Kairi's house was gone. Only the foundation and the blackened and splintered carcass of the structure remained. She had seen her share of explosions…This was the kind that didn't even leave bodies behind…She continued to pray and started to search through the rubble.

**..:-X-:..**

Dr. Urley had just adjusted the IV line that was feeding Tifa Lockhart chemical balancing fluids when the monitors around Kairi and Private McCallister began to cry out in alarm. McCallister was breathing heavily, fogging the mask over her mouth. Kairi began to jerk.

"She's seizing." He called out and a team of nurses flocked inside, moving the patient onto her side and holding her stable. "And McCallister is going into respiratory arrest."

"Her BP is bottoming out." One of the nurses called.

"Which one?" Dr. Leng ran inside. "What the Hell happened?"

"Whatever happened, it happened to both of them." Dr. Urley replied as Kairi fell still. "Check on the private."

For once, the cardiologist didn't argue with him, merely moved to McCallister's side while Urley went to Kairi's, checking her pulse for himself before looking to the monitors again.

"She's about to crash. Get the paddles."

"Charging." Another nurse informed.

"How're our other dreamers doing?" Dr. Leng asked. "McCallister's stabilizing on her own."

"Leon and Tifa are fine. Sora has slightly elevated pulse rate, but other than that, his stats are normal too." One of Leng's interns replied.

"Clear." Urley barked.

The nurses backed off and he dropped the paddles over Kairi's chest. The jump start made her body thrash and then immediately go limp. The monitor at his right began to regulate.

"She's back…Heart rate is stabilizing." He remarked, handing off the paddles to the nurse at the crash station. "Keep her under watch. McCallister?" He turned.

Dr. Leng straightened, "Stable. She was hyperventilating. Sora's heart rate is still slightly elevated." She adjusted a few of the machines. "No danger zone yet."

"Yet." Urley sighed, "You're a ray of sunshine."

She glared. "I just briefed the Restoration Committee about how their colleagues and friends are trapped in comas that might not be comas. Sorry if I'm not—" Her expression suddenly paled.

Urley followed her gaze and looked to Kairi as the girl's eyes fluttered open.

**..:-X-:..**

He had underestimated the blast zone of the explosives placed around the Princess of Heart's house. There had been a much larger ball of fire and louder explosion than he had anticipated. From his vantage point on the highest hillside on the island, he could see that an entire sector of the village had been blasted apart and burned black.

It was quite theatrical, to be honest.

The smell of burning wood and dirt was wafting up to him and it was both satisfying and disgusting. Satisfying because the bombs had detonated just as he'd planned. Disgusting because the overlarge explosion might have killed the target, and that was undesirable.

He watched the villagers bustling to and fro, squinting against the rising smoke to try and find where little Tabaeus McCallister had disappeared to. He had been close enough to hear the private's conversation with Sora while she ran headfirst down the hillside toward the burning village. The fact that she had called him didn't surprise him as much as the fact that she hadn't called Leonhart.

Now the fun was starting.

The Keybearer had become almost completely numb to human emotion. He didn't feel any guilt, disturbance, or sadness that the shapeshifter could determine. Just anger and revenge. With Kairi dead or at least seriously injured, Sora would be climbing the walls and blazing a trail of vengeance until he found the leader of the Fractured Circle.

And when Sora was swallowed by fury, he got stupid. He had bombed every world in the Alliance the last time the Fractured Circle did anything. Now there was nothing left to blow up and nothing left to blow it up with. Sora was powerless. And the leader of the Fractured Circle was enjoying it.

One of the especially interesting things beginning to develop was with McCallister. The soldier had proven to be less than interesting but only just more than boring throughout this little experiment of his. However, in the span of her frantic phonecall, he had noted several intriguing things.

The woman honestly was worried about the villagers of Destiny Islands.

The only person she knew in this world was Kairi, and surely they couldn't be real friends, not with Kairi's history with the Keybearer and McCallister's emotional dependency on him. Hm, this threw a monkey wrench into things. All of the data and research that he had compiled throughout Project Stasis had thusfar pointed to the conclusion that all hearts, when pressed hard enough, will revert to darkness. Hell, he had gotten Sora, the Keybearer, the light of the Keyblade, to turn his back on everyone who cared about him, and all the simulation had to do was 'kill' a few people. People who weren't really dead at all.

But that was beside the point.

Hearing the crackling of burning wood joined with the distressed cries of the villagers below, he looked at his watch. The time clock of Project Stasis was winding down. Soon, the structure of the simulation would begin to show real and defining discrepancies as it began to collapse. Here, in this reality, he had perhaps another week to get the results he was looking for. In real time, outside this shared dreaming state, where the Restoration Committee was alive and doctors were making judgment calls…They had several hours…maybe a day.

That would have to be enough.

Attempting to eliminate Tifa had been a mistake, he could see that now. She still had a few trump cards to offer this little game, and her effect on Leon's behavior was most interesting. Kairi's usefulness had all but expired. The only value left was by removing her from the equation. Using her death as a driver to spur Sora even deeper into this downward spiral…In reality, the girl would simply wake as though from a very long and vivid dream.

He stepped away from the ridge, carefully out of sight in case any wandering eyes drifted in his direction. The villagers, Tanner, Kairi's parents, they were all fabrications of the simulated reality…but they were programmed well enough to react to the figure of Ansem watching their make-believe world burn. He needed to be careful.

Returning to the Gummi Ship he had hidden in the woods, he turned on the cloaking device, rendering the ship virtually invisible, and guided it out into space. There was no need to linger now. The proverbial damage had been done. The die was cast. Now he would have to see how his lab rats adjusted to the change in the maze.

Sora was the endgame. To take the purest of Keybearing hearts and maim it in this way…it was horrifying and exhilarating all in the same breath. In 24 real time hours, he would have his results. With the fall of the Princess of Heart, he would begin the final countdown to the game. Project Stasis would be either his greatest triumph or his greatest undoing. Either way, what he had done was momentous, groundbreaking, and pushed the very fabric of humanity.

Then again, if one of the five lab rats discovered how flexible this reality truly was…If they were to somehow stumble upon the potential in the simulation around them…Now that would be interesting. Philosophical notions of the heart and psychological manipulation were all well and good, but to see them come to grips with the power they had over this entire static state…It would be a sight to behold.

However, that would involve revealing to them that this world, the world that had been their reality for four years, was a fallacy. They were doubting enough as it was, maybe not consciously, but their mental processes were picking up the cracks in the system. It wouldn't be long before minor hallucinations and perceptual mistakes would grow into conscious realization that their world wasn't real.

Suddenly curious, he landed the Gummi at the small hangar in Traverse Town. Descending hastily, he ignored the hangar worker who started to greet him. He had only minimally tampered with the flexibility of the simulation. He feared that interfering too much with the electromagnetic field of Stasis would draw his subjects' attention to the inaccuracies of the simulation unnecessarily. He had tested it, yes, of course, but just within the bounds of reason and to ensure the experiment's survival.

But now he needed to know.

If Sora was going to come after him—and he would come after him—then he needed to be able to level the playing field. The Keybearer had reached a level of swordsmanship that the leader of the Fractured Circle couldn't aspire to. He was a scientist, a philosopher, not a warrior and definitely not an athlete. Fortunately, there were other, more efficient, ways of keeping the stakes balanced.

Flexing a hand, he lifted his arm, palm facing the ground, spread his fingers wide, and flipped his wrist upward. In that one short movement, he orchestrated a terse mental command, tapping into the tactile forces of the simulation and drawing on the knowledge he had of the space.

The programmed civilians of Traverse Town froze in place, like someone had hit the pause button. He had hit the pause button, in this instance. The ramifications of this power rolled up his arms and he smiled. Even if it was all a lie, it was still power…and that counted for something.

He looked up at the sky. All it took was a knowledge of the falseness of the reality around oneself in order to give oneself the ability to change it. For example, he was wholly and completely aware that he was not walking down a street in Traverse Town's main district, that those were not real people talking on the steps, and the stars above his head were not even there. He knew that he was truly just unconscious in his laboratory in the real world, that if he died, he would merely awaken in his laboratory, in reality.

Hence, this was his playground.

"Let's see some sunshine." He whispered.

His voice almost echoed in the silence around him, as though in a cave rather than in the open area of Traverse Town. Immediately, at his whim, the darkness in the sky receded and the light of the stars brightened and began to congeal together into one large ball of light.

Sunlight shone across Traverse Town.

It was a sight that he had always wanted to see, but because of reality and the logic that restrained reality, this had always been just a desire…until now. Now, he could do whatever he wanted, mold whatever he wanted out of the simulation around him. A weapon to destroy Sora, an explosion to destroy Kairi, a fire to destroy Tifa, and just enough pain and suffering to end both Leon and his little ex-soldier McCallister.

But where was the challenge of being a god amongst rats in a maze?

Besides, the human mind was no fool. His five candidates, however drugged, however sedated, would realize that sunlight did not occur in Traverse Town. They would catch on to the incredulous circumstances that he wanted to create: banishing the Keyblade from Sora's use, murdering Kairi in an explosion, burning Tifa to the ground, tearing Leon apart from the soul out, and just watching McCallister squirm.

Nay, these large scale attacks had to be orchestrated carefully, logically, and believably…A binding magical contract to banish the Keyblade, bombs placed around Kairi's house, lit gasoline and alcohol in Tifa's bar…All painstaking measures that he had taken to ensure that they never caught on to their predicament.

Because if they realized that they too were not actually in reality, but in a program, a dream, a 'stasis', if you will…then the trial was over, and his experiment would be ruined. More so, they would begin to grasp the edges of the simulation and pull it into itself like a tablecloth. Bending time, space, physics to one's will…And he couldn't have that.

He lowered his hands.

Night sky returned to Traverse Town.

The programmed townspeople continued to mill about aimlessly.

He gave logic back its power for now.

He was running out of time.

With Kairi dead, Sora would be spurred by his blind emotions. The culmination was coming quickly, and the leader of the Fractured Circle needed to be prepared to make sure it unfolded…correctly.

He stepped away from the warm glow of the lights of Traverse Town's main district and caught his reflection in the window of a store as he passed. A harmless old man's face leered back at him. Frowning, he rolled his neck and focused until he felt his figure morph. He had become more adept at shapeshifting lately…The manipulation of the senses in Stasis had a sharp learning curve.

All the more reason for the others not to get wind of the truth.

Well…what was truth really?

Sora's young and hardened face looked back at him now and he turned his head just enough to catch the light. Such a youth…It was almost a shame to be using him like this.

There would be no waking from this for the Keybearer. Physically, they would all wake eventually. He had no arrogant thoughts of keeping them forever in this state. But while the others would eventually come to grips with this experiment and move on with their lives…Sora would not, could not.

This project had turned him into a beast. He had taken this innocent, big hearted, spirited child and carved him into an animal that survived on rage and blood.

There would be a special place in Hell for him for this.

There would also be answers to his life's work.

What was the heart? How strong was it really? What was it capable of? What was it not capable of? Where was the heart's snapping point?

He glanced around to make sure everything was as it needed to appear, and then began to walk back to his Gummi, still wearing the Keybearer's physique.

The time for philosophical jabber had passed.

It was time to ruffle feathers.


	7. Flash

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as is McCallister, the Fractured Circle, Urley, and Leng.**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Seven: Flash**

"For nearly 15 years now, the Heartless have been the embodiment of humanity's demons." Head Councilman Armand Gregory addressed the Council meeting hall. "These irrational, mindless creatures of darkness have waged war on our armies and terrorized our worlds, our homes. The Alliance has provided a measure of protection to our member worlds that is unparalleled. However, for the past few months, we have begun to see an enemy that many of us," the Councilman's eyes drifted across the sea of representatives gathered. "are not ready to face."

Leon sat near the back of the tiered meeting hall, watching the interaction. Not too long ago, he had been right in the thick of them. He had been a pivotal point in decision making, and he had commanded respect from the other representatives. After the initial bombing and the aftermath of it, the others hadn't doubted his judgment or his motives.

Now he was barely authorized to be here.

"Councilman Gregory's bill to fund research into destroying Keyblades has been garnering support." Queen Minnie said quietly as she walked into view beside him.

Leon glanced at her and exhaled, looking back to the Head Table. "They're morons."

The Queen of Disney Castle hummed at that and sat down next to him. "A few years ago I would have thought so too."

"And you don't now?" He looked at her. "The Keyblades are the only weapons that made the difference in the war against the Heartless. Contrary to the Council's addresses, the Heartless are still real threats to all the worlds. Just because one Keybearer went rogue—"

"One went rogue. One died. One stepped down." She interrupted gently. "Those selected to wield the Keyblade are not exactly a dime a dozen, Leon."

"Right…So why is the Council even thinking about destroying them?" He grunted, not really asking her, just venting.

"We're all tired of war." Queen Minnie sighed. "Fifteen years is a long time to fight shadows. You know that just as well as I do. And the new Council is making real progress in restoring the worlds."

He shifted in his seat, rubbing his temple with two fingers.

"Now, don't be like that." She tutted, "The decision for you to step down from the Council wasn't pushed on you. You agreed with them."

"I wouldn't have if I'd known they'd put a bounty of Sora's head."

She fell quiet at that and Leon closed his eyes briefly. The situation was different when he was on the Council, when he had Tifa to back him up, McCallister at his back, and at least some level of trust in Sora to not go darkside. Now the Council had all but blacklisted him, Tifa wanted nothing to do with the Alliance, McCallister was trying to hide her connection with Sora from him, and Sora…Hell…

"And I believe the only way," the Head Councilman was saying, "to restore peace and harmony to not only our world, but to Kingdom Hearts itself, is to find the former General, Keybearer Sora, and bring him to justice."

Now this was just getting ridiculous.

"And what justice is that?" Leon said, even as Minnie gestured for him to be quiet.

A roomful of necks twisted to look back at him, and Head Councilman Gregory squinted slightly in the dim lighting of the room. "You disagree with justice, sir?"

Leon stood slowly, "I disagree with putting a target on the man who's not the problem."

One of the representatives from Twilight Town spoke up. "I would hardly say that Sora is not the problem. He usurped power, amassed nearly a hundred warheads, detonated them on Allied worlds without any form of consent, and never consulted anything with the Council."

"And yet…the Fractured Circle is nearly extinct." Leon pointed out.

A flutter of whispering broke out amongst the Council and Gregory lifted a hand for silence. His eyes stayed on Leon's. "The ends do not justify the means. Sora acted out of revenge, blinded by blood lust and grief. There is a system to follow in these matters, and that system must be as decompassionate as possible."

"What Sora did was out of line, I'm not arguing that. But I think that punishing his overkill with overkill seems like…hypocrisy." Leon pointed out. "Destroying the only weapon that can fight the Heartless won't solve anything. It'll only make it worse. Sora is still a Keybearer."

The whispers of dissent became vocalized complaints at that.

"He's a criminal!"

"He made his choice."

"Sora's dangerous."

Leon didn't respond to that, just looked to Councilman Gregory.

The older man exhaled. "Keybearer or not, he is a traitor, and will be dealt with as such."

"So there's no redemption for someone who saved all of the worlds and Kingdom Hearts?" Leon pushed.

"There is none when that same person turns around and undoes all of that in one fell swoop." The Councilman tilted his head. "Why are you here, Major General Leonhart?"

Before Leon could answer, a woman in rigid military uniform entered the meeting hall through the side entrance. All eyes shot to the new arrival as she marched unapologetically to the Head Table, presented a piece of paper to the Head Councilman, exchanged a few hushed words, and abruptly walked out.

The door closed after her and everything froze.

Not in a poetic, dramatic kind of frozen, but every motion in the room very literally halted. Leon blinked a few times and then looked around. Not a head turned to follow him. He looked sideways to Queen Minnie. She had frozen mid-sentence, as had the Head Councilman.

He stepped out into the aisle and glanced back and then forward again.

"The Hell—"

Footsteps echoed down the frozen hallway and the doors suddenly opened as Tifa burst in, looking overly animated around the unmoving Council. Leon faced her and started to lift his hands in a shrug, then just let them drop back to his sides.

"What happened?" Tifa asked, her voice echoing slightly in the meeting room.

"Everything just…stopped…Is it—"

"Everybody outside is frozen too. Mid-step. It's…bizarre." She interrupted, taking the steps two at a time to reach him. "It's like a Stop Spell."

He shook his head, "No Stop Spell could take an entire town like this."

Tifa looked around the meeting hall, running a hand through her hair. "I don't understand."

Leon paused and looked toward the Head Table. "Time doesn't just stop."

Councilman Gregory was looking down at the paper that the soldier had handed him. He glanced back to Tifa and then started down the steps to where the Head Council was.

"So…what…someone or something did this? Like you said, there's no magic spell strong enough to make the world stop spinning." Tifa said, trailing after him.

Reaching the Head Councilman, Leon reached over and snatched up the paper. As he did so, his eyes slid to the gold watch on Gregory's wrist. The second hand had stopped clicking. He frowned and scanned the meeting hall just to make sure…None of the other representatives were moving, not even breathing. It was like standing in a wax museum…except Tifa. She was moving.

He cleared his throat and looked at the paper again. "It's an urgent memo."

"Um, Leon? Time has literally stopped," Tifa said, "Now is not the time to be catching up on—"

"It's Destiny Islands." He said, reading down the letter quickly.

"I thought Destiny Islands was neutral?" Tifa came down the final steps to read it for herself.

"It is…Or it was…This says Destiny Islands was bombed not two hours ago." He looked at her. "Fractured Circle?"

"Who else would do that?" Tifa rubbed her forehead, and then her eyes widened, "Kairi. She's the only one on Destiny Islands who even KNOWS about the other worlds."

"But why would anyone in the Fractured Circle want to kill Kairi?" Leon looked at the memo again.

Tifa began to head up the stairs. "Sora is the Fractured Circle's Most Wanted. But he's invisible. So is McCallister—"

Leon exhaled and strode past her up the steps. "She's still a member of the Alliance."

"And Sora's double agent. You know it. I know it. She's as much a traitor as he is."

Leon spun on his heel and glared at her, crumpling the memo and tossing it aside. "She didn't bomb the entire Alliance to get one man."

Tifa lifted her hands. "I know, I know. She was your intern and now she's—whatever. We don't have time to play that game."

"Right, we don't." He turned away and resumed heading up the steps and out of the meeting hall.

Everyone in the lobby of the Allied Headquarters had frozen just like those in the meeting room. Tifa walked with him across the lobby and out onto the sidewalk outside the building. The sunlight was dim, almost gray, and no one was moving. He squinted in the uncomfortable light and looked sideways to Tifa.

"Sora is the only one actively hunting the Fractured Circle, Corbin Franks, the shapeshifter…and the Council wants his head for it." He said as they crossed over to the Gummi Ship.

"Leon…" She groaned, catching up to him. "We have bigger fish right now. Like…why are we in the Matrix?" She gestured around them. "Or whether Kairi even survived the attack."

He shook his head as they reached the Gummi, "Maybe they're connected…" He paused. "Wait, 'we'?"

"Don't be stupid." She climbed up into the ship. "Time just apparently stopped and I'm not about to let you run off and figure it out without me."

Leon climbed into the ship after her, taking pilot and starting the engine. He was half surprised that it even started…everything else had stopped.

"What happens when time resumes?" Tifa breathed as the Gummi lifted away from Radiant Garden. "What if it doesn't?"

"Don't get dramatic." He said, though quietly he was beginning to wonder the same thing as they got out into the deeper travelling ways of space.

Destiny Islands was much farther away than most of the Allied systems; the distance was one of the factors that had kept the small tropical world so isolated from the Heartless and the wars. But now with this bombing…Destiny Islands may not be able to dwell in ignorance anymore…You could brush off individual disappearances and the occasional shadow that moved…The equivalent of a city block being blown up couldn't be quite so easily ignored.

"You really think Sora can redeem himself?" Tifa asked quietly after a few minutes.

Leon clenched his jaw. "I don't know."

"But you hope so…Otherwise you wouldn't have said anything." She replied.

He didn't know how to respond to that, so he just kept flying.

Tifa exhaled softly beside him. "I hope so too."

**..:-X-:..**

_Fire and darkness._

Air conditioning and white lights.

_Pain._

Numbness.

It felt like Kairi was being held underwater. The opposing sensations of fire and cold were only overlapped by the smothering disorientation. It was as though she was drowning, but kept breaking the surface of the water long enough to get a glimpse of the clouds above her, before being promptly pushed back under again.

But in both sensations, she couldn't breathe.

"Kairi? Kairi, can you hear me?"

_The touch of fire licking across her skin, while rocks and rubble pinned her in place._

"_What happened? An explosion?"_

"Get the paddles. She might crash again."

There were people looking down at her, in white lab coats, silhouetted by a blinding white light.

Kairi blinked and _she was pinned in the rubble of her house, fire biting at her_. Another blink, and she was lying on her side in a hospital bed while the people in lab coats barked off medical jargon.

"_Kairi!" Selphie was screaming, as though through a staticked radio. "Where are you?"_

Another voice, much closer, but one she didn't recognize. "Easy, don't crowd her."

_The fire and the smoke and the rubble blurred_ and when Kairi blinked again, she was staring at the lab coat-ed midsection of the doctor holding her on her side. Her eyes went wide and she gasped in panic. Where was she? What had happened? Half a second ago, she had been trapped in the burning ruins of her house…after some…some kind of explosion—

"Tanner—" She gagged, limbs twitching uncontrollably.

"_Oh God, Kairi!" Tabaeus's voice rang through her ears. "She's over here!"_

"Kairi?" The doctor in front of Kairi knelt down slightly, revealing a middle-aged woman's face with long blond hair. "Honey, are you with me?"

A…a doctor…In a hospital…but she was just in her house—what was happening to her?

As the doctor moved aside, Kairi saw two other beds in the room, both occupied. Tifa Lockhart and…Sora. Her lungs constricted and she started to hyperventilate. Why was he here? Why was Tifa here? How was—she rolled onto her back and looked on her other side. Two more beds: Tabaeus McCallister and Leon.

"Easy, easy, Kairi. It's okay."

How could this be okay? What were they all doing here? Where was 'here'? Was this a hallucination? The blond doctor leaned over her, checking her pulse, her eyes, and other vitals while Kairi lay there, breathing heavily and staring around her with wide eyes.

"What's—this—How—am—" She gasped.

"Just breathe." The doctor was saying. "You're—"

The rest of her words were drowned out by the _sound of the villagers of Destiny Islands screaming and wood groaning under the strain of the fire and broken concrete_. She whimpered in fear and her fists closed around the bed sheets under her palms. Sweat broke across her face and neck and she struggled to sit up.

"No, no, you have to relax." The woman said, gently pushing her shoulders back down to the bed.

"Where—am—" Kairi wheezed, looking across the room to the doorway.

For a brief moment, she saw _Tabaeus's face overlapping the background of the hospital room, gazing down at her in horror and struggling to move the rubble that was pinning Kairi in place_. Then she blinked and she saw someone standing in the doorway. Riku.

A scream tore itself out of her throat and every joint in her body locked up.

"Kairi!" It sounded like Riku and looked like Riku, but there was no way—

"Dr. Leng, do we need to get restraints—" Someone was saying.

"No! Are you crazy? She just woke up." The doctor…Leng…said, before looking to Kairi. "Kairi, look at me—Get him out of here—Kairi, stay with me."

"_Kairi! Oh God, stay with me!" Tabaeus's voice interlaced with Dr. Leng's._

"Kairi! Kairi." Dr. Leng glanced to her side. "She's slipping back."

"Back—back into—what?" Kairi wheezed.

"Tell her." A man's voice interjected. "Tell her before she slips back."

"I won't let her slip back—"

"Where am I?" Kairi stammered hoarsely.

"Radiant Garden Hospital."

Radiant…No, that wasn't—

"_She's lost too much blood!" Tabaeus was screaming in the background._

Kairi turned and saw Tabaeus lying there, motionless, unconscious, even as her voice echoed in her head.

"What's happening right now?" That was the male doctor speaking to her now.

"Fire—" She wheezed.

"Just breathe—" Dr. Leng was saying.

"Fire from what? Where are you right now?" The man continued.

"Dr. Urley." Dr. Leng said in reprimand. "Kairi, are you still with us? Don't push her, Tom."

"Destiny—Islands—" Kairi choked out.

"How long ago was the bombing?" Dr. Urley asked again.

"Tom, stop it. Kairi, it's all right—"

"Four years."

"What?" Dr. Leng blinked down at her in shock.

"Four—years since…the attack." Kairi managed to rasp.

A momentary hush fell over the room, just enough that she could hear the _villagers screaming again, and almost feel Tabaeus's hands trying to free her broken and burned body from the rubble_.

"Okay…okay, Kairi?" Dr. Leng said. "Listen to me. I need you to focus."

Kairi felt like her chest was going to explode because she was breathing so heavily. The multiple sensations of _rubble_, hospital, _fire_, cold, doctors, _Tabaeus_, Riku, and the utter confusion were about to make her brain melt. Her hands twisted in the sheets as she tried to get herself under control.

"Okay—okay—okay—" She wheezed, willing composure into her body.

"You're awake." Dr. Leng was saying. "Right here, right now, with me," the doctor's palm flattened against Kairi's collar, anchoring her, giving her something tangible to focus on. "Whatever else you're seeing besides this room, these doctors, me…It's not real."

"Not-"

"Say it back to me…Kairi, this is important, if you slip back in there—"

"In—there—where?"

"It's an alternate reality…you and the others—you're sharing a dream—"

Kairi looked wildly to the other bodies on the bed: Tabaeus, Leon, Tifa…and Sora. "Asleep."

"Yes, yes, exactly. They're trapped in there and you're almost free, but you have to stay awake—"

"They're—trapped—"

"Her pulse is rising—She's going back under." Dr. Urley was saying.

The sounds and feelings of the hospital were beginning to flicker with the _screams and pain of the rubble._ As much as she struggled against it, she could feel the fire pulling her back in.

Tabaeus was looking down at her, terror on the soldier's face. "Kairi, stay with me—"

"It's not real." Dr. Leng's voice was saying.

Then the hospital disappeared and _Kairi choked on ash and blood, the fire-heated ground against her back and pain rattling across her raw nerves. Tabaeus sat up, removing her hands from Kairi's chest, having been in the middle of CPR._

_Kairi went rigid as the pain reached her brain. She cried out and her body screamed with her._

"_Kairi! Hey, easy, easy, they're getting an ambulance—" Tabaeus was saying._

_Even in her disheveled, half-gone mental state, Kairi could see the truth in her eyes. In this rubble, from this explosion, Kairi was dying. It was as naked as the eyes on the soldier's face_. What had—had she been in a hospital?—There were—lab coats—Dr. Leng—Riku—

"_It's fake." She choked, hoarse from screaming._

"_What?" Tabaeus pushed her hair out of her eyes, "Don't try to speak, save your strength. The villagers are bringing potions…"_

_Kairi knew she was dying. She could feel it. Any blood she had left in her body to bleed was quickly fleeing out of whatever holes the explosion had torn through her…but it was important…she had to say…had to tell…_

"_It's not r-real." She gagged as blood hit her throat._

_Tabaeus grabbed her hand, which Kairi realized she'd been lifting up. "Just hang on."_

_Tanner…was Tanner real? Where was he? Was he dead? She began to hyperventilate again and was only rewarded with more pain in her chest. She buckled down and swallowed hard._

"_T-Tab-aeus." She croaked out, "I w-woke up."_

"_What? Woke—Please, stop talking—"_

"_We're—we're in a hospital—All of u-us—You, me, Leon and Tifa…Sora—" She wheezed, her vision beginning to tunnel. The blipping of a heart monitor reached her. "I c-can hear it."_

"_Kairi—I don't understand—"_

"_Riku is alive—"_

"_No, no he's not—Kairi, you're delirious—"_

"_I'm dying—" Kairi could feel the cold creeping into her limbs. "Tell them—tell the others—it's—none of this is real—"_

"_I don't under—"_

"**CLEAR**!"

A bolt of electricity slammed across Kairi's body and she jerked involuntarily. Tabaeus disappeared. The fire, the rubble, the pain, the ash, the smoke, and the smell vanished like a snapping rubberband, and Kairi found herself lying on her back, staring at the ceiling of the hospital once again.

"We got her." Dr. Urley was saying.

Kairi swallowed, utterly numb for a moment, taking a heartbeat to evaluate that she wasn't burned or broken or bleeding anywhere…She was whole. She was alive…The burning—that other place—It…It wasn't…

"Did I just die?" She whimpered, trembling on the bed.

Dr. Leng leaned into view, white as the coat she was wearing. "You're alive. You're here. You're back." A petrified smile crept across the doctor's lips. "Welcome back to reality."

"B-but I d-died." Kairi lifted a hand and looked at her smooth, unbroken skin.

"The only way out of the dream state is death in the dream." Dr. Urley had his hands on his hips on her other side. "That's…an elegant fire escape."

"Tabaeus…" Kairi said, suddenly exhausted from her struggle between two realities. "I told her…"

Dr. Leng wiped at her eyes and cleared her throat, "Good job…Now…Tell us what's going on in there…so we can get the others out too."

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** My muse has revived! The story will start moving a little more quickly now that we're in the home stretch. Updates will be more frequent too, thank goodness. I'm ready to wrap up this story! XD


	8. Lure

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are Leng, Urley, McCallister, and the Fractured Circle. I toyed around with some character development in this chapter. I hope it didn't come off too rushed. Constructive criticism is always appreciated!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Eight: Lure**

Kairi sat in utter stillness on the edge of the examination table of Radiant Garden Hospital. She had been pumped full of every kind of blood pressure, anti-anxiety, and calming medication in existence, it felt like. Dr. Leng had gotten her some fresh clothes and been the only doctor constantly present…as though to give Kairi some sense of consistency.

Consistency…

Her entire sense of the world had been uprooted, turned upside down, and shaken…Consistency had no meaning for her now. The past four years of her life…every memory, every moment, her entire marriage…God, Tanner…It was all a lie…All caused by a hallucinogen…Four years passing in just a week here…in reality.

Reality.

Her entire sense of that was gone too.

How—How was she supposed to deal with this? The first minutes of her waking in this world, the doctors had busied and bustled around her, checking things and vitals and babbling to each other like monkeys…It was enough to make her sick…And now she was just sitting here, waiting for Dr. Leng to come back from talking to the others.

The entire Restoration Committee was alive…The bombing four years—last week—hadn't killed anybody. It had been a flash bomb, of all things. Hardly any damage at all. A few scrapes and burns…all treatable, nothing serious…The only people physically affected by the attack were herself, Sora, Tabaeus, Leon, and Tifa…

She had spoken with Dr. Leng already, giving the doctor a confused and disoriented explanation about what had happened while she was 'under'. Bombs and power struggles and the Massacre and Sora's changing and Tabaeus McCallister and Tanner…Pain lanced through her heart and Kairi pinched her eyes closed, gripping the edges of the table.

It had quickly become apparent that her life for the past four years had been a lie…Four years had passed for her. Now she was suddenly being thrust back in time. She couldn't simply ignore what had happened in that…that alternate reality place.

She had seen one of the best friends killed and another driven past the brink of madness, seen Radiant Garden nearly turn itself inside out with the loss of the majority of the Restoration Committee and first Allied Council. She had seen evil when the Fractured Circle attacked, and she had seen darkness when Sora murdered them all in cold blood with those missiles.

The door to the exam room opened and Kairi started slightly, looking up to see Dr. Leng re-enter the room. The older woman looked haggard…though Kairi imagined that she herself looked ten times worse…Living through your worst nightmare for four years would do that.

"Hi." Dr. Leng greeted softly.

No 'how are you doing's' or 'are you okay's'…which was a relief.

"Hi." Kairi responded, too numb to articulate anything else.

Dr. Leng didn't appear to expect anything more than that, turning through the pages of a chart. "Tests have all come back. You're in perfect health and your brain activity is normal." She looked up. "But I can imagine that can't feel further from the truth."

"No, you can't imagine." Kairi said through a thick throat, "I feel absolutely nothing right now…I keep waiting to wake up—at home, on Destiny Islands, with Tan—" Her voice choked and her shoulders shrunk to her ears as her face crumpled.

"Oh, honey." Dr. Leng crossed to her, grasping her hand. "I'm so sorry."

Kairi shook her head…The tears just added to the confusion. She should be glad to have escaped from that Hell…Here everyone she loved was still alive and healthy…Sora was in a coma, but in this world, he wasn't a raving lunatic obsessed with revenge…But then again….in this world…in 'reality'…she was lost. Tanner didn't exist. She had fallen in love with and married a fragment of that horrible nightmare…

"I don't know what to do…Everything…Nothing is the same…" She choked, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"I know it hurts…I can't imagine—" Dr. Leng rubbed her arm. "But it will get easier."

Kairi suddenly had an urge to slap the woman through her tears. She didn't know…She had no IDEA what the past four years—whether it was really a week or not—had been like. But the doctor was just trying to be comforting in an impossible situation…She lifted her hands to her eyes.

"The others—" She stammered.

"I told them to stay clear…" Dr. Leng patted her knee. "You're still in shock. You need time to adjust without them crowding around you."

"But—but they're all…all right?"

Dr. Leng drew a slow breath. "Yes. There were no casualties in the actual attack. They're all fine, worried about you and the other four. You can see them whenever you want, but nobody is forcing you to do anything too soon."

Terror built up in her chest then.

Riku…Aerith, Cid, Yuffie…They were all alive and all right and in the same building with her right now…worried about her…She wanted to rush out and find them, hug them, hold them close and feel them, touch them, make sure they were real…

But after four years of letting them go…of moving on…Seeing them again would be like falling into Hades' Soul Pool. She couldn't do that now…not yet…

"Now," Dr. Leng started. "You've told me everything you could and I've updated you as much as I thought you could handle…But if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me anytime."

Kairi wiped at her eyes, not lifting her eyes from the floor. "I'd like to be alone."

Dr. Leng paused, started to say something, but then ducked her head and stood. "Of course."

"I'm sorry…It's just—" Kairi swallowed hard, "—a lot to process in so short a time."

"Oh, you don't have to apologize to me. I understand." Dr. Leng waved her off, stepping toward the door. "I'm around if you need me."

"Thank you." Kairi managed.

The older woman nodded and stepped out, closing the door after herself. Kairi sat in the room by herself, staring at the wall. She had no idea what to do now…How to adjust…Where to go from here.

So she just sat there, taking advantage of the numbness…because after the numbness faded, she would feel the real pain and hopelessness of this situation.

**..:-X-:..**

He returned to Destiny Islands the same afternoon of the bombing. All right, maybe it wasn't the classiest thing to do—return to the scene of the crime and all—but this experiment was nearing its end and all good scientists were present to see the end result of their experiments.

So here he was.

The flames were still rising, their red and orange tongues licking at the soft blues of the islands' skies. There was something so obscene and yet entrancing about watching fire eat through the village below as he guided his Gummi through the atmosphere.

Kairi was dead…Well, rather, she had been awakened to reality…There was nothing she could do there, but her 'death' in this reality would be the turning point in this little game he was playing with the other subjects of Project Stasis.

Soon, maybe already, Sora would return to Destiny Islands to see for himself, investigate the barking of his dog McCallister. It seemed only fitting that he be here to greet the Keybearer.

It always came back to Destiny Islands.

The Heartless took hundreds of worlds before the Keyblade chose Sora. Well, technically it chose Riku, but after the older boy accepted Darkness, the Keyblade had to rebound to the closest available idiot to wield the weapon of Light.

For some reason, Kingdom Hearts had chosen this tiny, tropical world to base Salvation from the beasts of darkness that fed on human hearts. Radiant Garden may be the epicenter of the Alliance and the powerhouse in the war against the Heartless, but Destiny Islands…that was where the end had always been. Where the door waited for evil to catch up.

And so it had.

He landed his Gummi in the cove on the smallest of the islands. This little swath of sand, rock, and palm trees had been the birthing ground of the end of the war, the Great Struggle, Light versus Dark, Cain and Abel, and whatever other poetic comparisons could be made here. Such an innocent place: the haunt of the local island children, who waged war with their sticks, jump ropes, and sports balls.

Little plywood structures and piers and ramps were littered about, the legendary paopu fruit hung from healthy trees. Color seemed to drip from every surface, like a child's coloring book. He walked through the cove, stepping around the thick tall grass and collections of large rocks. It was such a primitive world here, even through the Heartless and the wars and the tribulations, a vast majority of the inhabitants here were still sheltered from the deep dark parts of the universe.

Well, ignorance was bliss to some, he supposed.

He passed through the small doorway leading to the main beach of the island. The stretch of shoreline was bleached white and unbroken in the ebbing tide. He walked under the bridge connecting to a circular, tiny island in the shallows. Tall trees created a wall of green and brown to his right, toward the inner jungle of the island. A small waterfall here, terraced walkways there, all surfaces worn smooth by the weather and youngsters' exploring feet.

Beside the waterfall was the overgrown entrance to the cave.

He had read studies about Destiny Islands, and how the events here triggered the upsurge in the resistance force against the Heartless. To be here, physically in the presence of where evil touched this neutral world, was enough to give him gooseflesh.

The entryway to the Secret Place—as children had humorously called the cave—was barely four feet high and overgrown with vegetation and thorns. As though the world itself was warning the innocent to stay away. He smirked dryly to himself and withdrew the machete at his belt. The weapon didn't suit the form of the village woman he had shapeshifted into—lest he not be alone here—but it would have to do. He couldn't very well waltz around Destiny Islands looking like Cloud Strife—no matter how much more appealing that form was to walk around in.

He began to chop at the thorns with the machete, carving his way into the mass of natural protection that the cave had grown for itself. The vines resisted his assault, but many of the rocks and thorns that he knocked against merely crumbled away. This reality was deteriorating. He was running out of time. He would have to work quickly.

It took several minutes of hacking and sawing at the vines, even as they crumbled under his touch, to break through into the hollow tunnel leading to the Secret Place cave. He was sweating by then, and he wiped his sleeve across his brow as he crouched into the tunnel. The machete was replaced at his belt and he shuffled through the rocky corridor.

The sand underfoot transitioned into fine, silty dirt, worn and packed hard from frequent footsteps. The children's scribbling and drawings on the walls glinted white on the dark rock, looking twisted and menacing in the dim lighting of the cave. It may have been said that the innocent spent their time milling around in this cave, but one thing was for sure: he did not feel welcome here.

But 'here' wasn't even real…Maybe he was beginning to lose touch with reality.

The door was plain, by all standards. Just flats of wood connected to form a stout, elliptical surface. A thin line of gold was inlaid near the edges, where the wood blended into the rock walls. There wasn't even a doorknob. Just an invisible keyhole, and a thousand questions beyond. It stood there, silently, yielding no answers but endless curiosity. This was the forbidden fruit of Destiny Islands. Dare you reach out and taste it?

He chuckled as he crossed the cavern to the wooden door. He lifted a hand and touched it. Coarse grain met his fingers. It wasn't smooth or weathered like every other surface in this world. It was rough and stern, but the wood was warm against his skin.

"Let there be light." He murmured.

The logistics of the reality bent under his influence, twisting the fabric of this Stasis that he was—for the moment—controlling. In answer, several alternating stones in the cave glowed, as though they were mere cases holding fluorescent light bulbs. They cast an eerie glow through the cave, but also lit enough of the door that he could evaluate it properly.

Sora would suspect that he came here. He would lead Tabaeus McCallister here. Leonhart and Lockhart would follow. Because this was the epicenter. This was the end. This was the beginning. This was where it had always begun and always ended. This was Ground Zero.

He ran his fingertips along the warm wood surface of the door. A faint hum seemed to emanate from the grain. This was not reality. There was no 'heart' waiting behind this door. Kingdom Hearts had no power here…but the chills he was getting were real enough for him to withdraw his hand.

Now, soon, he would have his answer.

What was a heart, really? If inclined, if pushed, to its limits, which way would the heart's pendulum sway? Light? Darkness?

He only hoped he would learn before it killed him. So…now all he could do was wait..

**..:-X-:..**

"Four…four YEARS?" Aerith exhaled, bringing a hand to her chest.

Yuffie's eyes were large, "How is that possible?"

Dr. Urley stood with his hands on his hips, just as confused and perplexed as the people before him probably felt. "Dr. Leng spoke with Kairi extensively about this…mass hysteria…that she woke up from. She says that four years have passed from the present day here," He pointed to the ground, "and that the minor bombing that took place last week was actually a massive, orchestrated attack that demolished the building and killed all of you."

Aerith's hand covered her mouth and Cid nearly bit straight through his toothpick. A few other representatives on the Head Council were also gathered with Aerith, Cid, Yuffie, and Cloud as Dr. Urley informed them of the latest development. They only knew a few things for certain.

Kairi was awake. Kairi was physically stable and healthy. Kairi was mentally a wreck—and understandably so—and therefore being kept in isolation from them until she was stable enough to confront this true reality.

According to Kairi, only she, Sora, Leon, Tifa, and the one soldier had survived the attack last week. Some mysterious terrorist group called the Fractured Circle, led by a shapeshifting psychopath, had pulled off the attack. The Alliance of this 'static' state had retaliated and managed to decimate the group's forces. How they had done this, Dr. Leng hadn't elaborated…Rather, she said Kairi had refused to elaborate on the subject.

"But she woke up." Yuffie broke the halting silence. "Why aren't the others waking up too?"

Dr. Urley tried to put his words together carefully. "Her last recollections of the Static world are of an explosion…A pretty massive one that she was in the middle of." He drew a slow breath, "Our reasoning seems to follow that she 'died' in the other reality to wake up here."

Their eyes looking at him expressed uncertainty, incredulity, and more than a little fear.

"She…died." Cid growled. "But you said she was fine now."

"She is." Dr. Urley lifted a hand. He wasn't explaining his very well. "It's like a dream, or a nightmare in this case…They say when you black out in a dream, you wake up…It's much the same as that."

"I never had a dream that felt like four YEARS." Yuffie folded her arms haughtily.

Aerith looked like she was trying to compose herself. Cloud had yet to say anything, arms folded as he stared through the window into the room where Sora, McCallister, Tifa, and Leon were still being vigilantly kept under observation. Since Kairi's awakening, supervision over the others had tripled. Every little fluctuation in heart rhythm or REM sent nurses scurrying to explain them.

But the other four simply weren't waking up.

"So…in order to come back…to 'wake up'," Cloud mumbled, not looking away from the room. "They have to die in there."

"What's going on 'in there'?" Cid grumbled.

"The only way to know that is through Kairi, but in her condition…pressing her would not be wise." Dr. Urley explained delicately.

"What are you saying?" Aerith looked at him with worry etched across her face.

The head of neurology ran a hand through his hair. "If Kairi's mental condition is any indicator, this alternate dream world is a traumatic, nightmarish experience. Her emotional compass has been severely compromised. Even recollecting the most mundane details about it nearly sent her into a complete meltdown."

"How the Hell is that 'stable'?" Cid barked.

"Basically if the others even wake up, their minds could be entirely scrambled." Cloud interpreted flatly. "It's that bad in there?"

"Maybe not quite so bad in there," Dr. Urley could feel this going downhill fast. "But the shock of the transition and the disorientation of waking up in this world, of learning that the past supposed four years of their lives have been fallacy…It could be dangerous."

"So…what, we just ignore the elephant in the room?" Yuffie threw her hands up. "Sounds like a load of mumbo-jumbo to me."

"I'm sorry." Dr. Urley rubbed his temple, "This is an area that has never before been traversed in my field. The idea of shared dreaming, this kind of mass hysteria is unprecedented. There is no other research or experiments to consult on this case."

"Blind leading the blind, then." Cid snorted ruefully.

"The town…Radiant Garden…" One of the other representatives spoke up. "…The entire Alliance is glued to this…There are teams of civilians banding together to find the group responsible for the bombing…hunting down whoever did this."

Tears escaped Aerith's eyes and Cloud moved a little closer to her, but Cid spoke up first.

"It's not those responsible that I'm concerned with at this point." He pointed a thumb toward the room. "Those four are trapped in a kind of Hell that we can't imagine. They're being manipulated into playing some sick game by whoever duped them with that hallucino—drug thing."

"Maybe…maybe finding who was responsible could be the key to reversing this." Yuffie looked up. "I mean, pretty stupid to make a bomb without an 'abort' button, right?"

As the Restoration Committee and the Head Council began to get drawn into the conversation topic, Dr. Urley stepped away. He wasn't needed here anymore. This group had been given the ammunition to do something. For a week, they had stood on the sidelines, helpless and out of control as their friends and colleagues remained comatose. Now, they had something to do, and he wasn't going to tamper with that.

He spotted Dr. Leng emerging from the isolation room where Kairi had agreed to stay. The head of cardiology looked tired, as tired as he felt. She barely nodded her head toward his office and he inclined his head in silent response, following her into his office and closing the door after himself.

Dr. Leng paced the length of his office while he turned on the lights and sank behind his desk, massaging his temples. The office was larger than Dr. Leng's, and while hers was all stained mahogany and soft green colors, his was modernistic styled blacks, whites, and silvers, down to the steel and glass furniture.

"What does Kairi have to say?" He asked, watching her pace.

She ran a hand across her eyes and finally stopped, standing with her left shoulder facing him while she stared at the painting of a sailboat on the seas that a grateful patient had given him years ago. She nibbled on her bottom lip for a moment before closing her eyes briefly and then facing him.

"She told me everything she could, but…she's not coping well." She sank onto the leather chair across his desk from him. "She's in shock. She's disoriented. She just realized that the past four years of her life is a lie and…and she looks like a zombie."

"All things considered, she's coping better than worse." He pointed out.

"She DIED…In that…dream…nightmare…whatever…she DIED and now she's a ghost, walking around among us…just…waiting."

"For what?"

"I don't know!" Dr. Leng's fists clenched at her sides. "She's completely shutting herself off and I don't know how to reach her."

"You're a cardiac surgeon, Kya." Dr. Urley sighed, "Not a therapist."

"Well, then as a cardiologist," She huffed, "I'm worried about her…and the other four."

"What's happening with their hearts?"

"Kairi is hovering on the brink of cardiac arrest…has been since she woke up. The others are going through increasing stress levels. Whatever is going in there, it's getting worse." She pinched the skin between her eyes in exasperation. "And the tests keep coming back with nothing."

"So we have no leads and no new symptoms. The drug is almost out of their systems and if they don't wake on their own—"

"They will."

"Kya, you're too close to this." He looked at her with measured eyes.

Dr. Leng prided herself on her friendly connections with her patients. Lord only knew she had interacted with the Restoration Committee long enough to know their medical histories by heart. Now these patients, her friends for that matter, were torn between reality and limbo…How could she not be too close to this?

Still, there was a level of decompassion and professionalism that needed to be maintained here.

"You should be removed from the case." He laced his fingers together delicately.

"What?" She whirled on him, blond-gray hair coming loose from behind her ears.

"They are your friends. You're already behaving erratically."

"They're my patients. You have no right—"

"When something is wrong with their hearts, they will be your patients. Right now, something is wrong with their heads, and that's my area. Kya…go be with them as your friends, and let me be with them as my patients." He said as gently as possible.

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** I think the ending sort of chopped off there…but I couldn't figure out a better way to end it. I wanted to do a chapter outside of Stasis, with the doctors and the others in reality. I had to throw the leader in there though…He's just fun to toss around. The more I write him, the more androgynous he becomes…ah well. The next chapter will move more fluidly. Thanks for reading!


	9. Wrath

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are McCallister and the Fractured Circle. This is the first chapter of the end of the trilogy! Bwahaha. I was going to space these updates out more consistently, but since readership has picked up, I'm going to try and get it all up and completed by next week. Yay for quicker updates! Also, I don't want Endings Matter Most to have an aneurism XD Enjoy!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Nine: Wrath**

The hospital on the main island of Destiny Islands was in total chaos. Doctors and nurses and surgeons were rushing to and fro in a whirlwind of panic and a race against time as victims from the bomb were carried in. Tabaeus helped where she could, but the truth of the matter was that—even with her thin field medical experience—anyone who had been close to the explosion didn't survive long.

Like Kairi.

So Tabaeus found herself outside, standing by the pier along the eastern shore. Smoke was still rising from the downtown area where the woman's house used to be. Strangely, she had seen nor heard any sign from Tanner…There had been no sign of him in the damage zone.

There was so much else on her mind at this moment.

Like…the fact that Kairi was dead.

The Fractured Circle had bombed Destiny Islands.

Sora was en route at the moment, probably in a blind fury.

Kairi's last words…

_It's not real…I woke up…None of this is real…_

What wasn't real?

Tabaeus looked at the island around her. What had she meant? Not real?

The grass turning blue.

The slurring sound of voices.

The smell of medical plastic.

All of the little…inconsistencies…had been occurring more frequently lately. Maybe—no…No, she was not going to let the chaos of the past six hours make her consider illogical things. Besides, Kairi had been dying…She had been delirious and—and not making sense.

None of this was making sense.

Feeling despair creeping into her shoulder joints, she rolled her neck and pulled out her cell phone. She had already gone so far past the line of right and wrong…Any attempt at trying to fix this situation herself would only blow up in her face…She couldn't handle this, couldn't handle Sora…So she opened her phone and scrolled through the names.

She hit the dialing button before she could talk herself out of it and held the phone to her ear, grimacing the whole way. It rang three agonizing times before the other line picked up.

"McCallister?" Former Brigadier General Lockhart answered Major General Leonhart's phone.

"M-Ma'am?" McCallister faltered slightly. Had she misdialed—

"Leon's flying the ship." Lockhart explained, "What is it, McCallister?"

Tabaeus recovered quickly. "I'm on Destiny Islands. It was just bombed—"

"We know."

She blinked at that response and looked down at her boots. "I think it was the Fractured Circle."

"We know."

Tabaeus closed her eyes, "Kairi's dead."

Silence screamed at her over the line and she lifted a hand to her forehead, her throat constricting now that she had said it out loud.

"She was—" Lockhart started.

"She was the target…Or I was…I don't know—It doesn't matter…She died—in my arms." Tabaeus's voice came out thick and she cleared her throat.

Another long pause. She could almost envision Lockhart and Major General Leonhart exchanging looks that no one else could interpret. For a brief moment, heat burned the back of her eyes, but then the scuffled sounds of a phone changing hands came over the phone.

"Does Sora know?" The Major General said lowly.

Tabaeus's spine shot as straight as it would have if he had been standing in front of her. The potential tears evaporated and she opened her eyes, looking so abruptly toward the ocean that the sun's rays on the horizon cut into her pupils.

"Sir?" She snapped to attention.

"Did you call Sora already? Does he know about Kairi?" He reiterated.

She caught the small growl in the questions. He knew she had been working behind the Alliance—and more importantly, his—back to help Sora. That fact hit her like a bullet and she sagged slightly…but now was not the time for apologies…not that the Major General would listen to them anyway. He didn't forgive traitors.

"I called him right after the explosion." She responded. "But it was before I found Kairi. He knows that Destiny Islands was attacked, but he doesn't know anything specific about Kairi."

"Are you still on Destiny Islands?"

"Yes, sir."

"Stay there."

"Yes, sir."

"Is Sora on his way?"

"Yes, sir. He should be here any minute."

"Do you have confirmation that the Fractured Circle's leader is on the island?"

"Sir—"

"Do you, McCallister?"

Tabaeus started to answer, but suddenly something touched her collar. She brushed it away, thinking it a stray hair or a blown leaf, but then something touched her ear…and then her nose and her elbow. Twitching slightly, she looked down and saw what looked like cotton resting on the touched spots. Her brows knit together as she looked up.

It was raining pieces of…clouds.

The quarter-sized clumps were drifting down like bits of fluff, cool to the skin. Her vocal chords halted as she tried to register what she was seeing. Not only were clouds raining from the sky like cottonballs, but the sand all around her had turned a harsh gold color…and the usually crystal clear blue ocean was suddenly a neon green.

The world around her was like a television with the color knobs gone wrong.

_None of it is real…I woke up…_

"McCallister." Leonhart snapped.

"S-sir."

"What's going on?" He sounded clipped.

Lightheadedness hit her like a bucket of warm water and nausea swept through her. For a wild second, she actually thought she might throw up, but she planted her feet and narrowed her eyes, trying to will the world to stop being weird so she could just THINK!

Like a snapping rubber band, the sand turned normal toned, the ocean turned crystal clear blue, the clouds stopped falling, and the vertigo passed. She almost lost her balance from the stark transition.

"Dammit, McCallister—"

"Sir—" She stammered, looking around with wide eyes.

Did I—I didn't do that—surely—

"Tifa and I are on our way there now." The Major General was saying, "Stay where you are and when Sora gets there, stall him somehow."

But her mind was elsewhere—She had just made the world change…Could Kairi have been right? Curious and feeling also incredibly ridiculous, she lifted her hand, palm out, concentrating on the sandy patch on the beach in front of her…and thought about the most elaborate sandcastle that she could imagine.

The sand dusted up in the light breeze but otherwise nothing happened. She exhaled, feeling stupid, but when she looked back, a small, lump sandcastle was sitting there. It was from the image she had pictured, but it was a sandcastle…that she had created with her MIND.

"Holy…shit…" She whispered.

"What?" Leon barked.

She had to test this again…Coincidence could only get one so far—She looked toward the still burning fires downtown. Swallowing hard, she shifted the phone against her ear.

"Hold on, sir."

"McCallister—"

She pushed his voice out of her head and stared at the visible flames. Stop, she thought, narrowing her focus. Stop burning. Go out.

In answer, the red and orange flames disappeared in soft wisps of smoke…like an eraser had simply passed over them.

"Sir…you aren't going to believe this…"

**..:-X-:..**

"You did what?" The vein in Leon's temple was starting to poke out. "McCallister, you're not making sense."

Tifa eyed him steadily, trying to figure out what in the world the soldier was saying that was making that vein stick out. The Gummi that they were flying was clipping through the space traffic at an alarming speed, but Tifa was relieved to note that some of Cid's old flying tricks had rubbed off on Leon as they shot around some of the precipitous asteroids.

"Put her on speaker." She said, taking the phone from the crook of his neck before he could answer.

She flicked the speaker button and set the phone on the control panel. "McCallister, you're on speaker. What's going on over there?"

"I don't think it's real." The private's voice sounded higher pitched than normal. Then again, it had been nearly three months since Tifa had spoken to the woman.

"What's not real?" Tifa lifted an eyebrow.

"…everything…" McCallister breathed. "I just turned off the fires—"

"Fires…from the bombing—"

"If there even was a bombing—"

"Wait, McCallister—" Leon kept his eyes on the windshield. "Destiny Islands was bombed. Kairi is gone. Sora is on his way. Now is not the time to have a psychotic break."

"Sir, I'm sorry, but—before Kairi died, she told me that she…she woke up."

Leon cursed under his breath and Tifa rubbed her eyes. The soldier had flipped her lid.

But then again…

Tifa pursed her lips, watching her fingers individually press against her thumb. God, if it could really be simple enough to think this world wasn't real…But it was. Life was a bitch, and no delusions could make that fact change.

Destiny Islands came into view in the distance through the windshield.

"For the past week," McCallister was going on, "I've noticed things were off…colors changing…hearing things…Things were just wrong."

Tifa paused, but Leon exhaled heavily. "McCallister, you've been through a trauma."

"I'm not traumatized, sir!" Her raised voice made them both look at the phone on the panel. She seemed to collect herself before she spoke again. "I can…I can change things."

Leon's jaw flexed and Tifa knew he was done listening to this. She reached over and picked up the phone, turning off the speaker and holding it to her ear.

"Change what kind of things?" She asked as Leon flew the ship.

"Whatever I want." McCallister sounded breathless. "It's like the Green Lantern…I just imagine it and it happens…Blue grass…make the sun rise sideways…I extinguished all the fires from the bombing just by thinking it."

Tifa's pulse hummed behind her ears and she squinted. "That sounds—"

"Crazy, I know, but I keep testing it and it keeps working…It's like magic."

"Maybe it is magic."

"But I've never been trained in this level of magic. I'm barely covered in basic elemental, much less transfiguration…I'm bending physics over here!" McCallister sounded…excited.

"Where are you going with this?" Tifa pressed.

"If this world isn't real, if we're really—asleep or something—then we need to wake up—"

"How?" Tifa found herself asking, and immediately reprimanded herself for it. She was indulging a sick woman's fantasy that the past Hellish years were a nightmare.

But…oh…if there was a chance…

"I don't know…maybe Kairi woke up."

"Kairi's dead." The words came out harsh and Tifa cleared her throat.

"Maybe that's the trick."

"To die? That's ridiculous."

"This is all ridiculous." Leon interjected, "Destiny Islands coming up."

"McCallister, we're almost there." Tifa reported, "Just…don't do anything stupid—"

"Sora's here—"

"What?" Tifa barked, looking through the windshield and seeing nothing. "I don't see him."

"He just landed. He's—I gotta go—"

"Wait…McCallister!" Tifa snapped into the phone.

"Try to bend reality. It's not real…I'm almost certain of it."

"Soldier—"

"Please, ma'am—I'm sorry, I have to—" The line slipped to dial tone.

Tifa pulled back and stared at the phone. Leon glanced at her and started to guide the ship into the upper atmosphere of Destiny Islands.

"She said Sora just landed." She said. "And she thinks she's in the movie Inception."

Leon exhaled heavily. "Impossible."

Tifa hesitated and she felt him look at her.

"Tifa…There is no 'waking up' from this. We're not in the Matrix. This—" He smacked the steering wheel, "—is all the reality there is."

"McCallister is too grounded to go this insane so fast." Tifa rubbed her forehead.

"Just like she's too grounded to betray the Alliance for Sora." Leon hissed.

Tifa nibbled on a fingernail. "It would explain a lot…Not that she's insane…but the fact that things have—been wrong…She mentioned changing colors and sounds…I think—"

"She's hallucinating."

The Gummi trembled in the turbulence as they lowered through the atmosphere.

"Leon," Tifa said in exasperation, "I know you're pissed at her, and you have a right to be, but McCallister isn't an idiot. She wouldn't talk about…bending physics…if she didn't believe it."

"You're actually believing this?" He looked at her briefly.

Tifa thought back to the past few weeks…seeing things that weren't possible…hearing things that weren't there…and smelling things that she had no business smelling in Thebes…like hospital smells and the sound of doctors talking…

Were alternate realities such a far stretch?

"I…I think it's worth looking into." She said delicately.

Leon brought the ship into a landing, and they were given a full view of the crater where the downtown area used to be, now just burning wood and scorched foliage.

"If there was ever a time for her to be right…" Leon breathed.

**..:-X-:..**

Destiny Islands was one of the last places in this universe where Sora wanted to be right then. He could smell the burned dirt and blood as soon as he stepped out of the ship and onto the sand. The tide was inching in, and he could see that the fires were out already. McCallister was hurrying toward him from the beach.

"Sora—"

"Where is she?" He demanded.

She pulled up, pale and with eyes wider than the last time he'd seen her. "Wh—"

"Kairi." What the Hell else would he ask about? "Where is she?"

The woman looked paralyzed for a moment, and then she blinked and her shoulders slumped.

"Sora—"

He was losing patience. "What happened to her?"

"The attack…I found her…but it was too late…" McCallister looked down. "I'm sorry…she didn't make it."

Sora's blood turned to ice and he stared at her. "What does that mean?"

The soldier lifted her gaze painfully. "She's dead, Sora."

He froze solid at her words. Kairi…She couldn't be—He looked back toward the epicenter of the attack.

"She was the target…Because I was the target." He breathed, and then glared at McCallister, "Why were you here?"

She blinked, "I was—"

"Why were you on Destiny Islands?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Because I needed a break from YOU, you psycho-bastard!" She suddenly screamed at him, and Sora could have sworn he saw the sky darken a little.

He glared hard at her, "If Kairi's dead, then that's on me. I can't let this go—"

"You never let anything go!" McCallister vented. "This road to revenge is leading you straight to Hell! Why can't you just…"

"Just what?" Sora clenched his fists. "Move on? Everyone I have ever cared about is either my enemy or dead. There is no moving on for me—"

The soldier looked like she was on the verge of screaming something, but then she abruptly looked away and growled out her frustration. Sora frowned and looked toward the smaller island a few miles off the coast of the main isle. The island where he had spent most of his childhood wasting time with his friends. The island where the Door was.

"The leader is still here." He breathed.

"How do you know?" She exhaled.

"This is his final taunt." Sora stepped toward the shoreline. "He has nothing left to take from me. He's too obsessed with this…this sick game…to go into hiding." He gazed toward the island. "He's waiting for my next move."

McCallister remained quiet, a hurt silence that he didn't bother to interpret.

"He's waiting for me." He said under his breath, marching over to the pier, where the boats were all tethered. He was tempted just to fly over the island with his Gummi and bomb it to smithereens just for the bastard breathing Destiny Islands' air…but he had to make sure that the leader of the Fractured Circle died this time.

"I'm coming with you." McCallister said behind him.

"This isn't your battle."

"The Hell it isn't. You've dragged me everywhere for this obsession. I've betrayed my superiors, my colleagues, my peers, my Alliance…all for you…And I want this maniac dead too…So shut up because I'm coming with you. Maybe then we can escape from this place."

The way she said 'this place' made Sora's skin crawl for some reason, but he offered only a twisted smile as they both climbed into the nearest boat. The wind was wane and weak, but there were ways to get—

"We need wind." McCallister spoke his thoughts.

As though obeying her, a gust of wind filled the sails. Sora lifted his eyes as he removed the tether rope and the boat pulled immediately away from the dock.

The sharp wind had come from nowhere, but McCallister looked more enthused than concerned as to where it had come from all of a sudden. Sora looked at her suspiciously. She was a terrible liar. Always had been.

"What aren't you telling me?" He ordered.

McCallister looked at him, "Does it matter?"

"Yes." He straightened as the boat clipped through the water.

She pursed her lips and looked away from him, toward the smaller island. She didn't answer.

"McCallister." He hissed.

"I've done a lot of shit because you told me to, Sora." She said placidly. "I've betrayed a lot of people, told a lot of lies, and I'm at the end of my rope with you." She looked at him. "And if this—" She gestured toward the island, "—ends your crusade, then I'll tell you."

"That's not how this works."

"You can't have your revenge and the truth." She bit back, looking unusually comfortable with herself as she sassed at him. "Even if I told you the truth, you would probably refuse it."

He seethed but looked toward the island. He shouldn't be wasting time shooting the shit with her. The only thing that he should be concerning himself with was the monster waiting for him on the island. The leader would be waiting at the Door…because it was always the Door.

The island drew Darkness like the Heartless themselves.

But today it would end.

The past four years of Hell would end.

And then what?

"What is the truth?" He said, looking to McCallister.

For a long moment, she said nothing. Didn't even acknowledge that he had spoken. Then, when she did answer, it was with a quiet tone. "That it's all a lie."

He looked at her flatly. Then he snorted and looked toward the island again.

"Told you that you would refuse it."

He didn't answer, too focused on the matter at hand: ending the leader of the Fractured Circle.

"And that's why we're going to die here." McCallister murmured matter-of-factly.

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** I confess most of my inspiration for this Project Stasis has come from _The Matrix_ and _Inception_. Although those movies are waaaaay more kickass than my humble little stories.

Three more chapters to go!


	10. Ally

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are McCallister and the Fractured Circle. This chapter serves as part one of the two part final battle. As always, constructive criticism is welcome!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Ten: Ally**

The island looked disturbingly normal as Tabaeus stepped off the boat with Sora. The wind abruptly faded away as soon as she had summoned it…She had summoned wind…and not like the Aero Spell…It was like creating something out of nothing…Twisting logic and playing with this…reality.

The idea of that kind of power was terrifying…and liberating. And it only reinforced her certainty that Kairi had been right…This world wasn't real…None of it was…And they had to wake up. But there would be no convincing Sora…He would go his own way no matter what she or anyone else told him.

So she would play along.

He marched up the beach like a predator stalking his prey. She followed, glancing around as though the leader of the Fractured Circle, the shapeshifter, would jump out and yell 'Surprise!'. As he did no such thing, she watched Sora stride up the wooden walkway toward the waterfall and thorn-ridden cave.

Well, it had been a thorn-ridden cave…Now she could see that the vines had been stripped away, hastily, so that someone could get inside. That…that evil was here…not fifty feet from where they were. And Sora was closing that gap quickly.

Tabaeus swallowed any words of warning. She had long realized that her voice was mute to him, but she kept her eyes sharp as Sora ducked into the cavern's entryway. She hesitated and then stepped after him. A few rocks were dislodged as they brushed against the narrow walls of the entrance. They clattered to the floor and echoed like gunshots in the cramped tunnel.

As they shuffled toward the Secret Place, Tabaeus felt a chill lift the hairs on the back of her neck. It was too dark to properly see, but if there had been light, she wondered if she would have been able to see her breath…Islands were not this cold, especially not tropical ones. Someone was tampering with reality…bending logic…to what end? To frighten them? To put them on edge?

If so, this shapeshifter wasn't as intelligent as the Alliance believed.

Wait…shapeshifting…

Before she could finish her thought, Sora stepped out into the expansion of the cave and she followed, glimpsing the Secret Place for the first time. Chalk drawings scraped across every surface. Few columns of light entering from holes and gaps between the rocks and dirt in the ceiling. Then…against the far wall, was a single, solitary door, with no hinges nor knob…

But standing in front of the door, back to them, hands on his hips, was a man. Tabaeus didn't recognize him immediately, but the way Sora's fists clenched at his sides and his shoulders lifted was indication enough. Neither of them said anything, but they had been noisy enough that there was no way the man didn't know they were there.

"I was starting to think that you weren't going to show." He said softly, turning slowly to face them.

Sora remained silent, and Tabaeus squinted in the semi-darkness. The man had shifted his shape again, taking the form of a young man, a little older than herself or Sora, and with shoulder length silver hair and the most piercing blue eyes she had ever seen.

There were many different shades of blue, she knew. Sora's were a harsh, electric blue, like a bolt of lightning. Major General Leonhart's were a steel gray-blue, like the sea after a storm. Cloud Strife, what little Tabaeus had spent around him before he was killed, had had unnaturally blue eyes, like a cat. These eyes looking at them now were the kind of crystalline blue of a rising tide.

The leader of the Fractured Circle had morphed himself in the guise of Sora and Kairi's friend Riku. Gooseflesh broke across her arms, but she just glared across the cave.

"Ah, Private McCallister," He spoke softly, with a slight growl, "Nice of you to join us."

Fury was rolling off Sora's body in waves, and Tabaeus wondered if the anger had melted his jaws shut, rendering him mute. The imposter clasped his hands behind his back as he faced them, smiling wryly. He seemed to look at her for a long moment, as though something was off about her.

Maybe she was 'off'…She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I've been waiting for this." Sora's voice was low, dangerously soft.

"Yes." He replied. "I know you have."

A few loose rocks tumbled from the walls, and Tabaeus felt uneasy. It was like there were eyes lurking against the rocks, watching their every move.

"Then you know why I'm here." Sora took a slow step toward the right.

The man took a mimicking step to the left. "No, I don't. What would be the fun in knowing?"

Sora took another step, and the shapeshifter mimicked. Tabaeus remained where she was.

"I've come here to kill you. Slowly." Sora hissed.

"Is that so?" The imposter canted his head. "Could you do that?"

"I've killed people before…You know that."

"Ah, but you've killed faceless people that you didn't know…And with a Keyblade to boot." He remarked. "You think you could cut up this body?" He gestured to his borrowed figure.

Sora gritted his teeth and took another step, slightly closer.

"And no Keyblade to help you." The man taunted.

"I don't need a Keyblade to kill you…you sniveling little rat." Sora seethed.

The man chuckled and rolled his neck. As he moved, his form started to change. Tabaeus gawked as his skin, hair, and shape changed. His body seemed to shrink by at least a foot and he almost started to look like—

"You always were a little murderer deep down, Sora." The shapeshifter spoke with Kairi's lips, hands over delicate hipbones as he—she—smiled. "But by that pained look on your face, I see this test hasn't completely rid you of a soul."

Tabaeus saw the shapeshifter reach behind his—her—back, and there appeared a long, slender machete. The weapon looked strange and alien in Kairi's gentle hands. Sora looked torn, but still murderous.

"But where's your bravado now?" He—she—taunted. "Surely a big man such as yourself couldn't be derailed by a set of baby blues?"

"You're a coward, hiding behind a mask." Sora snapped. "Fight me like a man. You deserve to die."

Tabaeus saw a slight flicker of something in the shapeshifter's eyes, but it was gone just as quickly as it came, and then he—she—whatever—was transforming again. Kairi's visage disappeared and before Tabaeus could register how the imposter managed to bend the reality around him to change like that, he finished morphing and stood to the left of the door, a mirror image of Sora.

"A man like this?" He teased, a dark smile on his face.

But Sora was past words.

Faster than Tabaeus had ever seen a man move, he launched himself at the shapeshifter, like his evil twin. He tackled the man around the torso and they slammed into the ground. The machete had disappeared and all they had were their fists…but then again, that wasn't true, because this villain knew about this…this simulation world that they were trapped in, and he could bend it to his will. A sword, a gun, a grenade launcher…and it would be over in seconds.

Feeling completely useless standing against the wall, Tabaeus watched them wrestle on the ground. Sora was throwing punches, kicking and tearing and biting at every part of the imposter that he could reach. In a purely physical way, he was fighting himself.

If she believed in philosophical horse shit, she might have laughed at the irony of the sight.

But the shapeshifter was scrappy, and he punched, kicked, and tore for every blow that Sora landed. Tabaeus watched with a pit in her stomach as Sora got the man in a headlock and made him eat dirt…Except…maybe the shapeshifter had Sora in the headlock.

The leader of the Fractured Circle was undiscernible from the real Sora while they were fighting. They were moving too quickly for Tabaeus to gauge which was which. That kind of uncertainty made her nervous. The fact that she had no weapon on her made her even more nervous.

But if this world wasn't real…and a man could change his body just by shifting the laws of physics…She had made a sand castle…He had made a machete…Maybe she could make a weapon too. Drawing a slow breath, she flexed the fingers of her right hand at her side.

Moving sand to make a sand castle was one thing…but creating a gun out of thin air had to be much—Her fingers closed around cold, familiar steel and Tabaeus's eyes widened. She looked down to see the silver barrel of a Colt 1911 A1 .45 Caliber semi-automatic hand gun. Right there. In her hand.

She had seen Sora summon a Keyblade countless times before out of thin air…but Keyblades were magic…Guns weren't magic. Yet she had just summoned one.

There was a grunt of pain and she looked back over to see that both Soras had drawn blood on each other and one was missing teeth. Things were getting out of hand. No matter which was which, Sora wasn't winning. The shapeshifter had an advantage in this battle. Sora was going to get himself killed.

And Tabaeus was just dumb enough to still care.

"That's enough!" She lifted her gun to point at the fray.

They paid about as much attention to her as to the rocks around her. She swallowed and fired one warning shot into the rocks above their heads. Luckily, this was at the same moment that one of them punched the other hard enough to break apart their death grips on each other.

Bleeding, bruised, and breathless, they both looked at her.

"Sora." She wheezed, without the slightest clue what she was doing—only knowing that she had to do something. "This is crazy. There's something you have to know…This shapeshifter isn't real. None of this is real. I tried to tell you—"

"This isn't your fight." Sora snapped at her from the left.

"Stay out of this." Sora barked from the right.

They both looked at each other and Tabaeus faltered, the gun aimed between them. They both looked to her again, and the gun in her hands.

"Shoot him." The one on the left said. "He's the shapeshifter."

"What? No!" The one on the right snapped. "He's trying to confuse you."

Tabaeus flexed her jaw, squinting her eyes as the gun drifted back and forth between them.

"What's my first name?" She asked.

"Tabaeus." They both responded.

"Now shoot him in the balls so I can kill him!" One of them barked, pointing at the other.

"No!" The other growled. "Back off. He's mine to kill. Get out, McCallister."

She paused as the first Sora pointed, his mechanical fingers closed to his palm. Sora had lost those two fingers in the initial attack that started this madness…The pinkie and ring fingers of his right hand…But the Sora pointing at the other had mechanical fingers on his left.

The gun slid back to aim to that one.

His eyes darkened with rage. "McCallister, stand down…I order you to stand down."

"I don't follow orders from shapeshifters." She snarled. "Or from Sora for that matter."

The other Sora—the real Sora on the left—got to his feet. "McCallister, this isn't—"

Before she could talk herself out of it, she swung her gun back on the real Sora and fired. The bullet punched into his shoulder, dropping him like a stone.

**..:-X-:..**

Destiny Islands was a mess. And so was Tifa.

"You have to stop this." Leon said as they stepped out of the Gummi.

He could see from the distant look on her face that Tifa was actually thinking about what McCallister had said. This world was real. The minute they started thinking otherwise, all the ground rules went out the window and complete anarchy set in.

"Leon…Radiant Garden froze in time…No spell could do that." Tifa said, her eyes far away.

"Tifa." He grasped her elbow, trying to anchor her to the present. "I don't know what happened in Radiant Garden and I don't know what McCallister is smoking—but you can't join her in delirium right now."

"It explains everything that's gone wrong in the past four years." Tifa said. "Everyone dying…Sora taking power as easily as he did…shapeshifters…time stopping in Radiant Garden…and all the other weird stuff that has been going on lately."

"Saying it didn't happen is not going to bring them back." Leon ground his teeth. "You can't wish away reality, Tifa."

She narrowed her eyes, "Then why is the sky turning to static?"

He frowned and looked up with her. It was a disorienting sight…It was as though the entire sky had been covered by a television with horrible reception. Jagged lines of static buzzed through the clouds, the occasional flicker of brilliant color flashing through the bars. At the same time, the waves crashing on the shore around them sounded like glass breaking on tile floor.

"That's…odd." He muttered.

"Odd? Leon, it's not possible. It's not logical."

"I've seen Heartless do impossible and illogical things before." Leon retorted, still not willing to entertain this nonsense. "We don't have time for this. Sora and McCallister are hunting down the shapeshifter as we speak. We have to intervene before the Alliance shows up and—"

"And does what?" Tifa threw up her hands. "They're all frozen in Radiant Garden!"

Before he could put together a dry response, she walked past him toward the ocean, where across the blue was the small island where presumably Sora and the shapeshifter were with McCallister and her madness. Tifa reached the water, the foam lapping over her boots. She glared across the waves and Leon walked over to her.

"What are you going to do?" He remarked. "Part the sea?"

"Interference is preventing us from flying the Gummi over there…and a boat will take too long…" Tifa snarled. "We have to try something else."

"Tifa—"

"Just trust me."

"This isn't—"

"Leon, please—" She turned to face him, and her eyes were pained. "I know it sounds crazy and it know that nonsense is your Kryptonite, but I NEED you to open your mind THIS much," She lifted her index and pinkie finger two inches apart, "and consider—just consider the possibility that the past four nightmarish years of our lives might not have been real."

"I can't." His shoulders drooped, but he didn't know how to make her understand this.

Not all of the past four years had been nightmarish…A great majority of it had…but before the madness of the Massacre and the Fractured Circle, he and Tifa had barely known each other and now…He was closer to her than any other person on the Restoration Committee…Hell in the Alliance…and considering that this reality was a lie was considering that their relationship was a lie…and he just couldn't accept that.

Tifa's eyes hardened, "Then keep your narrow mind…but trust me. You owe me that."

He exhaled heavily. She had him there.

"Fine…but if nothing happens…"

Tifa silenced him with a hand and faced the ocean again. Leon stayed quiet, looking from her to the ocean, and the island that they needed to reach. This was a waste of time. Even if the Gummi refused to fly anywhere near the island, this model was equipped with some materials that would allow it to hydroplane for a limited while. They should hook up the equipment and—

She lifted a hand, reaching out toward the ocean, her palm facing the far island. He couldn't figure out what she was doing, but she looked like she was reaching for a jar from a high shelf. Her face was frowning in concentration and he looked to her hand. One could never say that Tifa Lockhart didn't stick to her guns.

But nothing was happening.

A peal of thunder rumbled what felt like directly from the ground and Leon looked up at the sky. The static continued to blaze through the clouds, trickles of discoloration bleeding through. Red flags going up, he looked down and saw the sand trembling around him and—more importantly—Tifa. Something was happening. Something was reacting…to her.

"Come on…" She hissed.

The waves on the ocean began to calm eerily. The wind seemed to cease entirely. Leon blinked and looked around. Movement on the water made his eyes snap back to the ocean.

A small string of islands was beginning to rise, like beads on a strand of thread from the beach before them to the island a few miles across the ocean. Leon stared dumbly as the water began to ebb away from the sand that was rising. It was like a bridge. The sand and stones from the bottom of the ocean were fluctuating and spreading wider as they created a bridge between the islands.

The thunder was swelling to a constant roar as this happened, and Leon stepped up beside Tifa, who was trembling from the effort of it. Finally, her arm dropped to her side and she took a halfstep sideways to adjust. He looked at her in alarm.

She smiled. "See?" She wheezed. "I told you."

"What—" He looked from Tifa to the sandy bridge that was drying ahead of them, looking solid and strong. "You actually—"

"Let's see Merlin do that!" She pointed, catching her breath and straightening. "Leon, I was right."

"I see that." He gaped in disbelief.

But it couldn't be disbelief…He'd just seen it happen with his own eyes!

"How did you know to do that?" He looked at her.

"I didn't." She looked behind them, then to the bridge ahead of them, and then behind again. "But I figured if this world wasn't real, then it could be changed. Alternate realities have subjective rules. So I just tampered with them." She turned and walked back toward the upper part of the beach.

Leon continued to reel. "Tampered—If this world isn't real—Merlin could still be alive—The others—"

"Sharp learning curve, huh?" She said behind him.

He turned and saw her walking up to a small shed that hadn't been there seconds earlier.

"Where did that come from?" He pointed, feeling increasingly confused and exasperated.

"I created it…from nothing." Tifa looked high with the implications of what she was doing, this sudden power at the fingertips of her imagination. "It's like a Green Lantern ring."

"This is not a comic book!" Leon jogged over to her. "And how does this shed help? We've got a bridge now—"

"Because this world isn't real and I created it without magic." She pointed out.

"Gloat later…We have to go!"

"It'll take too long to run across that bridge." Tifa gripped the double doors to the shed. "This will be faster."

She pulled the doors opened and the dull light of the static sky did nothing to increase visibility of whatever was inside. Leon squinted as Tifa walked inside the shed. He saw her shadow climb onto whatever vehicle she had conjured. An ignition whirred, growled, and then turned over with a roar that replaced the thunder of the sand around them.

The sky was darkening at the edges of the horizon. For the past four years, this alternate world had been as real as Tifa was to him. In the past week, things had briefly seemed weird…Now the unusual and unnatural were getting more frequent by the minute. Whatever was happening, it was exponentially getting worse. There was no ignoring that.

He looked back as Tifa nudged the vehicle out of the shed. The waning sunlight glinted off the massive black hull of the motorcycle, and the mufflers in the rear quivered as she revved the throttle. The front haunches of the beast were engaged and looked ready to spring open at a moment's notice. The engine snarled like a wolf ready to pounce.

Fenrir.

Leon looked from the growling motorcycle to Tifa, sitting behind the handlebars like a woman with a mission. Her jaw was set and her eyes were sharp. She looked at him briefly, and then to the bridge.

"This will be faster than running." She said. "Hop on."

"Tifa—" He said, trying to register what had just happened.

"Leon, stop pussyfooting around and get on the motorcycle."

"You just pulled Fenrir out of your ass."

"Well, that's because you didn't pull a teleporter out of yours." She snapped, "Now hop on before Sora and McCallister get killed over there."

Leon gritted his teeth but moved to the side of the motorcycle. He swung one leg over and hauled himself across the seat behind Tifa. Her hands were wrapped around the handlebars tightly and she lifted the kickstand.

"Here we go." She revved the engine and let go of the brake.

Leon barely had a second to grab onto her before Fenrir shot across the beach like a cannonball. Sand was spat out from under the tires like a machine gun and the beast under the hood screamed to be let free. Tifa increased the gas and Leon managed to get his bearings before the front tires slammed over the rough transition from open beach to rigid bridge floor.

Tifa's hair whipped against his face and he steadied himself behind her to make sure a sudden change in speed wouldn't throw him off into the water. They were moving fast enough now that that kind of contact would peel the skin right off him.

He pushed that thought aside and focused instead on what lay ahead of them. Sora, McCallister—with whom he would consider even after this—and the shapeshifter, the mastermind behind all of this.

The world wasn't real…He looked out at the ocean as they drove, literally, over it.

Tifa had dismantled the laws of physics and magic so easily…Could it be that easy?

Tentatively, he lifted a hand, just an inch or so from the seat of the motorcycle, and looked toward the ocean again. It still felt ridiculous and illogical, but he focused on the choppy waves. The ocean was never still. So he focused on trying to make it still…To prove to himself for himself that physics had—

The ocean waves smoothed and faded away at his thought, forming a solid, unmoving surface.

-gone completely out the window.

God help them all.


	11. Enemy

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are McCallister, Leng, Urley, and the Fractured Circle. Home stretch, folks! This is part two of the finale battle-esque arc. Constructive criticism is always welcome!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Eleven: Enemy**

The sun was rising on Day Eight after the attack when Merlin made a triumphant return to the hospital. The carrier in his hands clinked as the magical vials brushed against each other as he walked up the halls toward the observation room, where the four patients remained.

Dr. Leng was still keeping Kairi in isolation. The poor girl was nearly catatonic from the disorientation and the shock, and the doctor believed that any interaction with the others would just make her condition worse. The violence that had awakened her from the nightmare simulation had left scars on her mind, Dr. Urley had mused.

Well, hopefully these vials would make it easier for the other four to wake up. Ever since they had isolated the hallucinogenic drug affecting Sora, Leon, Tifa, Kairi, and Private McCallister, every magical and medical mind in the Alliance had taken it upon themselves to develop an antidote for it. Wealthy patrons pooled funding into the research like gasoline on fire, and civilians had been active in getting the word out.

These weren't five nameless victims of an attack. These were the Keybearer who restored the worlds, the backbone of Radiant Garden, one of the pillars of the Restoration Committee, a Princess of Heart, and a soldier. And the Alliance had responded above and beyond what Merlin had expected.

People in the hall parted to let him through with wide eyes and small, hopeful smiles. He had called Dr. Urley ahead of time to give the neurologist the news first. The drug had been a ghost in the patient's systems, nearly impossible to pin down and analyze…and Merlin was a sorcerer, not a doctor. But when Kairi woke up, medics were able to isolate the antibodies in her blood that had reacted with her change in consciousness. Replicate the chemical changes and copy the effect: instant antidote.

Merlin had thrown in some magical herbs to combat the disorientation and blood pressure…just to try and make the waking transition easier on them. The rest of the Restoration Committee had hardly left the wing of the hospital in a week now. Even Cloud had stuck around, and Cid had only left to smoke.

Dr. Urley met him wordlessly at the entrance to the ward. Merlin handed the antidotes over with a tired smile, and the neurologist hurried the vials into the observation room. The clear fluid would be administered through an IV to allow the chemicals direct and immediate contact with the blood and into the brain. Merlin gauged it would take an hour to take effect…but it was really up to the others now.

An encompassing silence hushed the Restoration Committee as Merlin returned to them and they all watched through the glass as Dr. Urley hooked the vials up to IV lines one by one to their friends. Leon, then Tifa, then McCallister, and finally Sora. There was no dramatic music or sudden changes in the monitors beside the bodies. Only Dr. Urley moved, administering the antidote, checking the bags, and then lingering for a few minutes in case of any allergic or immediate bad reactions.

Now the waiting game began.

Merlin grasped Aerith's hand, which was trembling as she stared through the glass, as though willing them to wake up. Yuffie was sitting forward with her elbows on her knees, biting her fingernails. Cloud was leaning against the wall like a statue. Cid's fingers were twitching toward his cigarettes. News reporters were standing still behind the No-Media tape, cameras ready for the first sign of change.

Cid finally sighed, the exhale breaking the pen-quiet silence. "Vaya con dios, amigos."

**..:-X-:..**

The gun report screamed through the small cave of the Secret Place, and Sora felt the slug drive deep into his shoulder, just inches from his heart. The pain was sharp and it got a scream out of him, but there was also something off about the pain. He had been shot before, had felt the pain of it before, but this wasn't—right.

He hit his back on the floor and clutched his shoulder, rolling onto his other arm and glaring at McCallister, who was still holding the gun on him, her eyes the size of dinner plates.

"What the Hell?" He barked, "I'm the real Sora, you bitch!"

She lowered the gun, her face pale but her eyes looking unreadable. "I know." She spoke softly.

The shapeshifter was chuckling, his eyes nearly manic as he stood up, dusting himself off. "I guess even the most loyal dogs have their breaking point." He lifted one hand, and shifted it to resemble the talons of an eagle. "Your mistake."

Sora saw the angle of the man's footing change a split second before he moved. The shapeshifter shot forward, and then abruptly leaned sideways, launching himself at McCallister, talons drawn back. McCallister had been trained thoroughly and extensively in combat, as all of Leon's soldiers had, but now she stood lax, arms at her sides—was she out of her mind?

Before Sora could get to his feet, the shapeshifter reached her, slashing upward. The talons caught just under her jaw, carving deep into the skin of her jawline and tearing through her cheek. They shredded across her nose and then her forehead, slicing across her hairline. Skin flew from her face in ribbons and her head jerked sideways with the blow. The rest of her body followed and she was shoved backwards with the force, hitting the ground hard, face first.

The leader of the Fractured Circle turned to face Sora, still wearing Sora's form, save for his talone-esque right hand. A cruel, black smile curved his mouth. Horror and molten fury melted into Sora's chest, but he leveled his glare at the man.

"Like what you see?" The man taunted, raising McCallister's blood covered talon to eye level.

Her…blood…

McCallister moaned from where she'd landed, not rising. Blood was pooling on the rocks under her face. She coughed and choked on bone fragments and rock and broken teeth.

"Welcome to your heart, Sora." The man said, stepping toward him. "This is what it's always been about. You. Your choices. Your decisions. Your actions. Your hatred." He smiled, "You failed."

Sora heard his heart pounding in his ears and could only stare at McCallister's blood. Instead of feeling remorse or horror at her mutilation, his mind snapped into the logistics…The shapeshifter had shed her blood…A binding part of the agreement between him and Sora. The pact was broken.

A wry smile spread across Sora's face. "And you broke your end of the bargain."

The shapeshifter's smug grin faltered slightly and he looked sharply to McCallister.

"Was that part of your game," Sora stood, one arm hanging uselessly at his side, "Or are you just that arrogant?"

McCallister continued to choke and bleed on the ground, her blood running like an incriminating creek toward the leader of the Fractured Circle. Sora glanced at her and then stared hard at the man.

"Game over, you sick bastard."

He lifted a hand and summoned the Keyblade.

Warm, humming steel filled his palm.

**..:-X-:..**

By the time Fenrir's tires rolled onto the soft sand of the smallest island of Destiny Islands, Tifa was growing more certain by the second that something big was going to happen, if it hadn't happened already.

The sky was solid static now, and the main island of the world had disappeared in a cloud of dark blue and purple smoke. The trees were hanging low, their branches bent and strained, as though trapped under a glass ceiling. The air felt thick and it made it uncomfortable to breathe.

She brought the motorcycle to a stop, and before she could set the kickstand, Leon had climbed off and was heading up the beach toward the caves.

"Leon, wait—" She swung her leg off the vehicle as well.

"No time." He said over his shoulder, ducking into the cave's entrance.

Tifa hurried up the beach after him. His sudden urgency was contagious and it made her nervous. The world was deteriorating around them. They were running out of time. She ducked after him into the tunnel and nearly ran into him, as he hadn't gone very far.

There were sounds of movement ahead in the cave, voices, and the distinct smell of blood. Tifa regained her balance after colliding with him, gripping his shoulder to steady herself. She could hear his breathing, shallow and sharp, and it made her tense. If Leon was freaking out…

As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw him lift a hand…and a split second later, she saw a weapon of some kind appear in his hand. He was bending the reality too. He believed. She swallowed and squeezed his shoulder once before letting go: a silent 'thank you for trusting me' and 'told you so'.

A low hum moved through the rocks in the cave around them…in response to something, but Tifa couldn't pin point what. The hum grew more intense, almost audible, and it sounded like…screaming.

"Stay close." Leon said lowly, moving forward again.

Tifa kept her hands loose, ready to form fists at a moment's notice if what they found in the cave ahead wasn't friendly.

And if the screaming in the rocks and the smell of blood was any indication, they were about to meet the end of this…world.

Well, she had been ready for this apocalypse for four years.

**..:-X-:..**

He couldn't believe that he had been so careless.

He could only watch—as though in horrifying slow motion—as Sora summoned the Keyblade. The forked teeth of the sword flashed in the dim light. Even in this simulated reality, the weapon was awe-inspiring to see in person.

McCallister was gasping, broken and bleeding on the floor, and Sora was coming at him—murder in his eyes.

So this was the color of a heart pushed to its limits…

In one fluid, lightning fast motion, Sora took a step towards him and lifted the sword. The Keyblade cut through the air and he almost heard the air cry out in pain. The teeth of the blade rushed closer and he felt the briefest touch of steel to his neck—

As he though had been pushed into a lake of icy water, the virtual reality was ripped away. When he next opened his eyes, he wasn't in the cave, in the Secret Place, with Sora and McCallister, on Destiny Islands. He was, instead, sitting reclined in his laboratory chair, in his office two stories below Radiant Garden's sea level.

He shot up straight like a bullet and looked around, disoriented and nauseated as he registered where he was. He was back. He was awake. Sora had—He turned sharply to look at the mirror that hung on the opposite wall of his office.

His own, true face looked back at him. Not Sora's. Not McCallister's. Not Cloud Strife's. Just the face that he had been born with.

It was over.

Feeling suddenly weak in the knees, he slumped back to his seat and stared at the computer monitors around his desk, which were keeping tabs on Project Stasis. Sora, McCallister, Tifa, and Leon were all still consciously inside Stasis…but it wouldn't last long. He was the simulation's creator. With him out of the picture, it would collapse even faster now.

Sora had killed him in there. Beheaded by the Keyblade…it was a poetic way to go.

And he had his answer. A dry smile curled his lips and he began to chuckle.

The chuckle grew into a laugh and he roared with laughter until it echoed off the walls.

**..:-X-:..**

Leon stepped into the cave of the Secret Place just in time to see the Keyblade cut through Sora's neck like a hot knife through butter. The head rolled backwards and toppled to the floor. The body crumpled soon after. But…that didn't make any sense, because Sora was the one who'd just swung the Keyblade…

The Sora who still had his head spotted Leon and Tifa in the tunnel and pursed his lips. "He was a shapeshifter."

Behind Leon, Tifa stepped out. "How do we know you aren't the shapeshifter?"

"He's right." McCallister grunted from the floor, lifting her head.

Leon's stomach churned. Ribbons of flesh were hanging from her mutilated face. Blood was running over exposed bone and broken teeth, and one of her eyes had been slashed open. Tifa gasped when she saw the soldier and Leon hurried over to her.

"McCallister—" He dropped to his knees, but he could see the damage was done.

"It's over." Sora straightened, diminishing the Keyblade.

"Do you realize what's happening here?" Tifa stepped forward. "We're in a virtual reality simulation. He was behind it all." She gestured to the headless corpse. "The world is collapsing around us."

Sora didn't look convinced. "McCallister tried to sell the same crap to me." He shook his head, "I'm not falling for it."

"It's true." Leon snarled at him, trying to staunch the bleeding on McCallister's face. "Everything is fake. Kairi told McCallister and McCallister told us."

"Kairi's dead."

"She woke up!" Tifa yelled at him.

"Come back." McCallister whispered, her grip on Leon's arms getting weak. She had lost too much blood. The lacerations were too deep. "Sora…It's okay…come back."

Leon looked to Sora. The Keybearer looked anguished, rigid and trembling.

"I can't." Sora seethed. "It's too late for me. There's no going back from where I am."

Leon started to reply, but McCallister went abruptly slack.

**..:-X-:..**

As soon as the heart monitors started beeping irregularly, Dr. Leng closed the shutters on the observation windows, blocking out the Restoration Committee's anxious expressions as Tabaeus McCallister began to seize…Well, she wasn't actually seizing, the cardiologist noted…she was thrashing.

"Tabaeus!" Dr. Urley was saying, trying to get into the soldier's wild line of sight. "Tabaeus, it's all right. You're back. You're okay. You're safe."

The soldier was breathing heavily and her eyes were wide as they rolled around, scanning the hospital room. Dr. Leng reached for a sedative but didn't open it. The last thing she wanted to do was put McCallister under after a week trying to do the opposite.

"Send…me back." She was gasping.

"No can do." Dr. Urley said calmly. "We just got you back. You're awake. Do you know who you are?"

"Private…Tabaeus McCallister." She wheezed.

"Do you know what year it is?" Dr. Urley pressed, checking her pupils.

Dr. Leng exhaled harshly and stepped up to the woman's other side. "Take it easy. She's confused."

"It's collapsing." Tabaeus choked, lifting her hands to her face, as though to make sure it was still attached.

"What? What's collapsing?" Dr. Urley asked.

"Thomas." Dr. Leng warned, looking to the soldier. "Tabaeus, just take deep breaths."

"The simulation—"

Dr. Leng breathed carefully. Kairi had been right: she had told the woman about the alternate reality. She reached out and took McCallister's hand to anchor her. "Do the others know?"

"Leonhart and Lockhart—"

"What about Sora?" Dr. Urley glanced over to Sora's body in the nearby bed.

"I don't…I don't know…He won't believe—"

"Why not?" Dr. Urley pressed and Dr. Leng lifted a hand to caution him.

Tabaeus just covered her eyes with her hands and trembled.

**..:-X-:..**

McCallister was dead.

Tifa stared in a mixture of horror and envy at the soldier's body as Leon gently lowered her to the stone floor of the cave. Leon looked murderous as he stood and faced Sora.

"Are you happy now?" Leon made two fists. "She was the only one who stood by you and now she's dead."

Tifa put an arm in front of him to prevent him from attacking the younger man. "Leon, it's okay. Remember? It's not real. She's alive…" She said it again to convince herself. "She's alive. She woke up. Like Kairi."

"Kairi?" Sora blinked.

"McCallister was right." Tifa looked to Sora. "Kairi was right. This world isn't real. None of it. It's a simulation. We had a hard time believing it too," She glanced to Leon. "But it's true."

Sora looked rigid. "I can't."

"She just died to prove it to you!" Leon snapped. "What will it take to—"

"I can't go back." Sora looked like a hollowed out mask, sullen and haunted. "Look at me." His hands were limp at his sides.

For the first time in nearly four years, Tifa felt a pang of sympathy for Sora. The walls quivered as the world continued to break apart around them. Water, a putrid murky color, began to seep in through the holes in the rock. She swallowed and took a step forward.

"It's not real." She said firmly. "When we wake up, none of it will have happened."

Sora looked at her in defeat. "But I'll know." He tapped his temple. "It's all right here. What happened. What I did. What I've become…There's no undoing that."

"Don't be an idiot." Leon walked up beside Tifa.

"For the first time since the attack," Sora looked at the shapeshifter's corpse. "I'm not." He looked to Leon and Tifa. "I'm sorry that I didn't—"

The cave imploded and fire engulfed the Secret Place, swallowing them all in blue, green, and heat. A rush of cold swept over them and Tifa felt something hard slam into the small of her back.

And then her eyes opened.

**..:-X-:..**

Dr. Leng had just talked McCallister into a normal pulse range when first Tifa, and then Leon's monitors began to cry out for attention. A week of nothing and suddenly they were all waking up at the same time?

"Hot damn," Dr. Urley moved to Tifa's side, "That sorcerer's antidote actually worked."

Tifa Lockhart jerked to awareness similar to how Tabaeus McCallister had: wild and disoriented. She responded to Dr. Urley's words more quickly though, and composed herself much faster than the younger soldier had. In fact, she looked almost downright unsurprised when she realized she was in a hospital. After that, her only concern became—

"Leon." She sat up against the neurologist's advice.

Leon hadn't thrashed or cried out at all upon awakening. His eyes had simply fallen open. Dr. Urley exchanged a look with Dr. Leng, who stepped closer to the man and checked his eyes, in case this was just another muscle reaction. Leon twitched under her prodding and blinked a few times, looking around with a weary, perplexed look on his face.

Dr. Leng gave Dr. Urley the nod of 'he's okay' and Dr. Urley finished making sure both Tifa and McCallister were stable before stepping toward Sora. The monitors were crying out and his breathing had become erratic, but Sora had yet to open his eyes.

"Sir—" McCallister was sitting up now.

"McCallister…" Leon said behind Dr. Urley's back. "You're alive."

"Yeah—Ma'am?" The soldier asked.

"I'm fine." Tifa replied. "What about—"

Sora's eyes opened just as Dr. Urley shined a light in them. The younger man recoiled and blinked from the onslaught of the light, groaning and turning his head as though he'd just woken up from a nap instead of a week long coma. Dr. Urley apologized and turned off the light.

"Ah…what the…Who're you?"

"Dr. Thomas Urley of Radiant Garden Hospital." He said. "You've just woken up from an eight day coma after the attack on Allied Headquarters."

Sora looked at him with wide, young-looking eyes. "There was an attack?"

**..:-X-:..**

The morning papers, television, and radio waves had exploded.

"This just in: the other four victims of the bombing last week on Radiant Garden Allied Headquarters have all regained consciousness."

_Awake: Bombing was a Conspiracy to Target Allied Officials._

"…All five individuals are reported to be in good health…"

"Word has reached the station that this attack was orchestrated by a mentally unstable scientist named…"

"Civilians across the worlds are up in arms trying to find the man who caused this attack—"

"Doctors at Radiant Garden Hospital are not commenting on the events—"

"Cid Highwind of the Restoration Committee commented that we should…Oh, we can't say that on live television…"

"News coming in from Radiant Garden just minutes ago: the drugs used to attack the Allied Council could have trapped the five individuals in some sort of virtual dream world—"

_Allied Council Says that Those Responsible Will Be Brought to Justice._

"Just now learning that the Keybearer Sora is experiencing some memory loss from the attack just over a week ago."

"Graham Nestor of the Radiant Garden representatives says that 'he's glad to see his colleagues recovering and in good health'."

_Another Stage in Biochemical Warfare? More about what really happened while they were comatose on page 3._

"Wait…yes, we are receiving reports that a group of civilians of Radiant Garden have gone against the authorities and found the scientist responsible."

"While our media cameras cannot get access to the ward where they are being treated, rumors have come to light that some if not all of the victims have been psychologically compromised…"

"Our news reporter Michael Lillith is at Radiant Garden Hospital now. How does it look, Michael?"

"June, it is just madness here! As you know, Kairi, the Princess of Heart, woke up just a few hours before the other four, I have heard that she is being kept in isolation like the others…"

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** There will be one more chapter to wrap up all the loose ends, since this chapter was so schizophrenic XD

Thanks for reading!


	12. Phoenix

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine as are Leng, Urley, and McCallister.**

**Final chapter! Huzzah! Musical muse for this chapter, particularly near the end of it, is "You Give Love A Bad Name" by Bon Jovi. No affiliation!** **Also, some inside jokes from my other LeonxTifa stories snuck in there: the couch, the jeep, etc. It couldn't be avoided, haha. Enjoy!**

**..:-X-:..**

**Chapter Twelve: Phoenix**

"It's been two days since they woke up." Riku complained. "If they're perfectly healthy and stable, why can't we see them?"

Dr. Leng sighed, rubbing the back of her neck as she faced Riku and the Restoration Committee, who were understandably and rightfully exasperated from being kept apart from their friends for so long. "I'm sorry. This has been an immense mental and emotional strain on them all. I've explained already that four years passed for them in this…Stasis…" She said the word disapprovingly. "Keeping them isolated is just giving them time to adjust to the fact that you all are alive and the events of the past four years did not actually happen."

"Are they okay?" Aerith asked trepidly. "I mean…Will they be okay?"

"Of course they will be." Cid snorted, his brave face on flawlessly. "This is Leon and Tifa we're talking about…and Kairi and Sora have proved that they're not pushovers…And McCallister is Leon's top intern. They're all gonna be fine, right, doc?"

Dr. Leng nodded, glad to have at least one set of eyes not locked on her helplessly. Around 36 hours ago, Dr. Urley had called Merlin into a confidential consult on Sora's condition. Kya couldn't believe it, but while Kairi, Leon, Tifa, and McCallister had all come forward with talk of four years spent in a simulated reality, with the Fractured Circle, a bombing attack, and all else Hell, Sora didn't even remember the attack that put them in Stasis.

After a battery of tests and evaluations, the head of neurology had come to the conclusion that Sora had true blue amnesia…or that his mind was forcibly blocking the memories from his consciousness. His mind had been tampered with enough in his lifetime. As soon as THAT was made knowledge, Kairi had immediately jumped on the idea of having Merlin mimic the memory wipe on her…She said that it was too much to bear to remember that Hell…Though not Leon, Tifa, nor McCallister had come forward for a memory wipe.

"When can we see them?" Yuffie asked.

Dr. Leng hated telling them no. She could see how concerned they were. "I'll see what I can do."

**..:-X-:..**

Tifa could see Radiant Garden throwing a party from the window. She had taken a shower, changed into fresh clothes, and was currently trying to keep down the soup that an orderly had brought in for her and the others. She could see the Allied Headquarter Building on Radiant Garden's skyline.

It was too much for her to wrap her mind around. Four years…never happened.

She nibbled on her fingernail absently and glanced over to McCallister, who hadn't spoken a word since they stabilized in the observation room. The shower had stopped in the adjacent room, and Tifa could hear Leon moving around, getting dressed. She could remember everything from Stasis—they were calling it that apparently—but Sora didn't…and if that wasn't fucked up enough, Kairi was opting to have her own memory wiped in kind.

Tifa couldn't bring herself to do that. Sure, most of her time in Stasis had been horrible…but if she lost all her memories of becoming friends with Leon and…and everything else…It hurt to think about.

"May I come in?" Dr. Leng asked from the door leading from the observation room to their private room.

"Of course." Tifa said, happy for the distraction from her mulling.

The head of cardiology opened the door and stepped inside, smiling softly as she closed the door after herself. "You'll be happy to hear that your friends are all up in arms for this isolation thing."

"Then let us out." Leon remarked, stepping out of the wash room in different clothes, his hair still plastered to his skull from the shower.

McCallister said nothing.

"Fine." Dr. Leng replied.

Both Leon and Tifa looked at the doctor, then at each other, and back to Dr. Leng.

"Seriously?" Tifa asked.

"You three have passed the tests across the board." Dr. Leng stated. "Given your current conditions and mental states, I believe that you're adjusted enough to go back to the real world."

"God, I know I am." Leon shook his head.

Tifa paused. "Are the others…out there?"

Dr. Leng nodded once slowly. "Yes, they are. All of them."

Leon met her eyes when she looked at him again. Four years of trying to move past their friends' deaths, and now they were suddenly alive again…probably just on the other side of the door into the hallway…Tifa found herself overjoyed and terrified at the prospect. She stood and stretched. Waiting in this room wasn't going to make it any easier…alone with her thoughts was scarier.

"Then let's go." She smiled tiredly.

McCallister looked to Dr. Leng. "Where is Sora?"

Tifa paused and looked to Dr. Leng. Leon beat her to her addition of: "And Kairi."

Dr. Leng's smile faltered for the first time in two days. "Sora is in the next room with Riku. He doesn't remember anything, so I allowed Riku to see him already. Kairi is with Merlin."

"Having all of this erased." McCallister looked almost angry. "As if it was that easy."

"Tabaeus…" Dr. Leng started.

"I want to see him." McCallister said firmly. "I deserve to talk to him."

Dr. Leng looked to Leon and Tifa for help, but the two of them agreed with the soldier. Even if Sora didn't remember anything, McCallister needed some closure.

"I'm going to see the others." Tifa interrupted what was about to become an awkward silence.

Dr. Leng nodded, "All right. Just through that door."

Tifa bobbed her head and had taken two steps when Leon's hand at her elbow stopped her.

"Wait." He abruptly pulled her close and kissed her full on the mouth.

Tifa momentarily froze with surprise, but then her eyes drifted closed with the kiss. She leaned into it and almost heard Dr. Leng's eyebrows lift.

"Whether it actually happened or not," Leon said quietly, "The past four years were real."

Tifa looked at him and a small smile took over her mouth. "Ditto." She glanced at the door, "You coming?"

"Right behind you." Leon gestured and looked to the soldier. "McCallister?"

The private's jaw flexed and she shook her head, "I'm going to see Sora first."

"Fair enough." Leon inclined his head and followed Tifa to the hallway door.

Composing herself, Tifa winked at Dr. Leng, unable to stop smiling. This was it. It was over. They were back. They were safe. They were all together now. She opened the door and they walked out.

Most of the hallway had been blocked off—from the media and newsreporters, she'd been told. Aerith, Cloud, Cid, Yuffie, and Merlin were in the hallway, looking at the end of their ropes…and alive. Tifa felt tears hit her eyes just at seeing them all. By the sharp intake of breath behind her, Leon was experiencing the same feeling…sans the tears of course…but, boy, if there was ever a time to cry…

Yuffie saw them first and shot to her feet from her seat. Aerith looked at Yuffie's reaction and then followed her eyes, seeing Tifa and Leon. Soon Cid, Cloud, and Merlin looked over as well. For a moment, the terror filled Tifa again—Geez, happy, sad, scared, happy, sad, scared, what was wrong with her?—and then Aerith broke forward, breaking the spell that had gripped them.

"Thank Kingdom Hearts." Aerith reached them, throwing one arm around each of their necks and pulling them close.

And just like that, the terror was gone. Tifa closed her eyes and moved one arm around the other woman. She could smell Aerith's perfume. She had forgotten about that perfume. Tears scalded her eyes and Tifa didn't fight them. For once, the tears didn't embarrass her. Besides, Aerith was crying even harder.

"Squall!" Yuffie launched herself at Leon, nearly tackling him to the floor. "Don't you ever, ever, EVER do that again!" She said, her words slightly garbled as she pressed her cheek to his chest.

Leon staggered slightly under the attack, but under the circumstances, he didn't correct her about his name. This fact wasn't overlooked by Aerith, who smiled through her tears at him as she pulled away from Tifa. Cid offered a lopsided grin and gave a little wave to Tifa. She smiled at the gesture.

"Welcome back." Cid patted her arm. "Sleeping beauty, eh?"

Tifa wiped at her eyes. "Something like that."

Then Yuffie bounced off of Leon and jumped on Tifa.

"And you…don't ever, ever, EVER do that again either!" The younger woman squeaked.

Cid handed Aerith a tissue—one of many, Tifa presumed—and clapped Leon on the shoulder. Yuffie swung Tifa in a happy circle before detaching and laughing as Aerith hugged Leon again, and Leon didn't complain.

Tifa turned and saw Cloud loitering on the fringe of the happy reunion. The door that she'd carefully locked and barricaded to contain the well of emotions burst open and threatened to drown her where she stood. She glanced back and saw Cid cave and give Leon a gruff Man Hug before stepping away from him.

She looked to Cloud again. "Hey."

He looked awkward for a whole half second, standing arms' length from her. Then he stepped forward and abruptly and uncharacteristically pulled her into an embrace. Tifa started in surprise at the gesture but almost immediately returned the embrace.

"Hey." He finally replied, not letting her go.

His voice was close and she could feel his breath on her neck. He was breathing and he was alive, just like the others. They were all okay. Dr. Leng had told them over and over again, but this was real, tangible. Alive.

"I missed you." She said, withdrawing and wiping at her eyes. "All of you." She added.

"Same here." Yuffie chirped, smiling ear to ear.

"I'm sorry we couldn't wake you up sooner." Cloud remarked quietly.

Tifa lifted a hand, "Don't do that. It wasn't…Nobody's fault."

Cid straightened, "All right. Enough of the hug fest." He glanced down the hall. "I assume Leng and Urley have let you off the hook?"

Tifa and Leon exchanged a look and then both glanced back. McCallister had disappeared. That was troubling, but Tifa couldn't find it in her to worry right now. She had been worried and upset and concerned for four years…She was going to enjoy this moment without worry.

"I guess so." Leon remarked, looking to Tifa for a long moment before looking to the others.

Aerith caught the look and her lips turned into a mischievous grin.

"Then we're all going for drinks." Cid declared. "The rest of Radiant Garden is partying it up tonight. Drinks are on me."

Aerith lifted a hand, "Cid, I'm not sure if alcohol is really a good—"

"Hell, they've earned it." Cid waved her off. "Sora and Kairi are fine. McCallister's…on her feet…I think a drink is the perfect way to cap off this week…Unless you don't want to?" He smirked.

Tifa heard the challenge in his voice. "You're buying?"

He nodded and Leon exchanged a look with her. "We're in."

**..:-X-:..**

Tabaeus stood on the outside of the private room door, on the other side of which were Sora, Kairi, and Riku. Her breathing felt constricted and her palms were sweating. This was it. This was the last thing she wanted to do, but she knew she needed to do it…no matter how stupid it seemed.

She managed two timid knocks before abruptly stopping. A beat passed.

"Come in." It wasn't Sora and it wasn't Kairi, so she figured Riku had been the one to speak.

Taking a second to compose herself, she slowly opened the door. The three of them were sitting in the room alone, and she felt immensely intrusive for this…What was the point? Sora didn't remember her, Kairi had had her memory modified, and Riku didn't even know who she was.

"You're Private McCallister." The silver haired young man greeted her.

Tabaeus came back to herself and blinked, "Y-yes."

Sora and Kairi both just looked at her.

"Are you okay?" Riku asked.

"No…but…I'm getting there." She offered, hands fidgeting. She looked to Sora and Kairi. "Hi."

"Hello." Kairi offered a small smile.

Sora looked at her with eyes so innocent that she nearly teared up again. "Hey."

"I…I was in…I was in the headquarter building with you when…when the bomb went off." She tried to keep her voice under control.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Sora asked.

It was the first and only time she had ever heard him ask her that, and she nearly crumbled all over again. Instead, she swallowed hard and continued.

"I just…wanted to wish you well…I hear you're going home." She managed.

"Yeah, apparently we were all knocked out for a whole week." Sora laughed, "It's so weird."

Coming here had been a mistake. Tabaeus could feel her resolve crumbling.

"Yeah…I'm sorry. I have to go. I'm so sorry." She walked back to the door. "Good bye."

As she slipped out, Riku closed the door after her and looked back to his friends. "She was pretty upset; she must have been worried about you…Are you guys close to her?"

Kairi and Sora exchanged looks and then Sora shrugged. "I've never met her before."

**..:-X-:..**

After three rounds, Yuffie was drunk—which Leon didn't quite approve of but figured she had earned—and Cid kept ordering more rounds for the whole bar. The entire Restoration Committee was in the bar, and while everybody in the bar was celebrating, drinking, and dancing, Leon found himself sitting at the end of the bar, watching the display and nursing a lone beer.

Tifa sat next to him, slightly more buzzed than he was, but not enough to join in the festivities of Yuffie pulling Aerith into dancing. Cid was flirting with the curvy female bartender, and Cloud was…somewhere. All was right with the world.

"So what now?" Tifa spoke first.

Leon looked at her and gave a one-shouldered shrug. "We start again."

She narrowed one eye at him and then held a hand out. "Hi, I'm Tifa."

He smirked. "Not that far back." He glanced to the others enjoying themselves. "I was thinking more along the lines of where you and I go from here."

She snorted, "Right…We shared a life in the simulation. Shared an apartment. Had offices practically connected. Your dog almost listened when I gave her commands." She grinned back him, "But I still have my couch."

That almost got a smile from him, but he choked it back. "That's not going in our new apartment."

Tifa looked sideways at him at that. "Our NEW apartment?"

He shrugged again. "I know a guy who knows a guy. It's our old place…We just haven't lived there yet."

She blinked at him and suddenly grew serious. "We're just going to relive our greatest hits?"

He took a short drink of the beer. "I was thinking we could just see where things go."

"Sounds like you're asking me out." She smirked, but went serious again. "Just because it was…will be…might have been—our apartment…That doesn't make it home."

Leon looked at her and set down the beer. He and Tifa had gone through Hell and back together. The fact that the rest of the world didn't recognize those four imaginary years didn't matter. He remembered. Tifa remembered. God help McCallister, but she remembered. Sora and Kairi had gotten free of the madness, and while he envied some aspects of that…

"We'll have to find my jeep too." She snickered. "If we're going to relive the greatest hits." She shrugged. "If we're going to make the apartment home again."

He paused and glanced around the bar. Yuffie, Cid, Aerith…even Cloud…The fact that suddenly things had gone from horribly wrong to just peachy…even perfect…was almost too much to handle. He was glad she remembered…Gave him somebody to commiserate with, he thought dryly.

"Wherever you are is home." He murmured under his breath.

Tifa looked at him, shook her head, and chuckled.

He looked at her. "What?"

"Leon…I spent the last year in the simulation trying to stay mad at you, and not four days back in the real world and you're…wooing me." She smirked.

They looked at each other for a moment.

"Wooing?" Leon repeated. "What are you, medieval?"

"I'm just saying." She shrugged, "It's cute."

He mock-frowned, "I'm not cute."

She smiled and moved her hand to his collar. "Shut up." She tugged him closer and kissed him.

Leon tilted his head and deepened the kiss tentatively. She followed the first kiss with a shorter one before withdrawing. There hadn't been time to talk to the others. Not that he really wanted to at this point, not about the other reality, Stasis, or whatever the medical professionals were calling it. So he was sure this display of affection was utterly perplexing to the Restoration Committee…Hell, it was perplexing to him too…and by the soft look on Tifa's face, it was the same for her.

"You want to get out of here?" He prompted.

She blinked and glanced toward the others. "Four years trying to get back to them and now you want to walk out?"

Leon looked to the rest of the Restoration Committee. "We've got tomorrow."

She snickered at that logic and stood from her seat. "Let's go."

He stood and followed her to the back of the bar, leaving the others to their party. Sora and Kairi were back to Destiny Islands by now. The madman who had masterminded this whole mess was facing life in prison. He and Tifa were okay. And McCallister—

"McCallister." Tifa said, looking sideways as they stepped out into the night air.

Leon followed her gaze to see the soldier sitting on a crate against the wall of the bar. She looked up abruptly at being addressed and furiously wiped at her eyes, getting to her feet.

"I'm sorry, I—Don't know what I was—" She stammered.

Tifa looked from McCallister to Leon and he exhaled.

"You knew he wouldn't remember." He said quietly.

The soldier's shoulders quivered lightly and she looked away. "I know."

Leon eyed her for a moment. He had seen Tabaeus McCallister put up with a lot, but it looked like she had reached her limit. She spent four years catering to Sora's every whim, and now he didn't even know who she was. Or what he had become. What he had done. The only upside to that kind of psychological trauma was that now she would be back under a capable superior officer: him. And he would make damn sure of that.

"I'm okay." She waved them off. "I'm fine. It's just…a lot to adjust to." She looked embarrassed. "I'm…I'm going to go home now." She paused. "Shit…I don't—my apartment doesn't exist."

Tifa suddenly snorted and both Leon and McCallister looked at her like she was crazy.

"I—" Tifa tried to stifle the smile on her lips. "I'm sorry, it's just…Listen to yourself. Your apartment doesn't exist."

From the look on McCallister's face, the soldier failed to see the humor there.

"Tifa—" Leon started.

"My bar in Thebes doesn't exist." She went on, giggling in earnest now. "You—your office doesn't exist."

A grin tugged at Leon's mouth. "Neither does yours."

McCallister spotted the smirk. "Are you two insane?"

"Four years…YEARS…in one week." Tifa started laughing and Leon grinned helplessly at her. "Kairi married some guy who doesn't even exist…Sora turned into a monster…and he doesn't even REMEMBER!"

McCallister lifted her hand to her mouth as a short laugh escaped. "That is so messed up."

Leon shook his head, looking back toward the bar. It was late by then, and he could almost hear Yuffie on the karaoke. He felt guilty for leaving, but in all actuality, the past week had been exhausting, and he was looking forward to just…sleeping. Tifa and McCallister's giggles slowly faded away and McCallister wiped her eyes again.

"I've requested a leave of absence." The soldier said quietly. "The Council gave it to me."

He eyed her for a moment. "Whatever you have to do."

She swallowed, bobbed her head once, and half turned. "I hope—Good luck, sir, ma'am."

Tifa nodded, "See you around, Tabaeus."

As the private walked away, Leon tilted his head and Tifa mimicked him.

"We'll be lucky to ever see her again after this." She remarked.

Leon exhaled and look to Tifa. "She'll be fine."

Tifa looked skeptical. "You really think so?" She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "I don't know how anybody can really be 'fine' after what we've been through."

Her gaze slid to him and Leon shrugged. There wasn't really anything left to say at this point. Without saying anything, they both started walking again.

"I mean…what was the purpose of all this?" She went on after a moment. "The bombing, the simulation, the hallucinogens. It probably took years to set this up and one week later…It's over. It just seems so…pointless."

Leon snorted. "The guy was insane. We'll never understand what he was trying to do."

Tifa lifted an eyebrow, "You are either lying or are the most well-adjusted person on the planet."

He glanced around the residential district of Radiant Garden as they walked. "We adjusted once. We'll adjust again." He lifted one shoulder. "It can only be uphill from here."

"That sounds dangerously close to optimism." She snickered at him, but the distant look in her eyes lingered.

He eyed the Radiant Garden skyline and exhaled in relief. There would be time to analyze and question and explain to the others, but for now…The silence was enough.

"I don't know where to go from here." Tifa said softly after a moment of quiet walking.

Leon titled his head and looked at her. "Let's go home."

**..:-X-:..**

**A/N:** FIN! Hallelujah. Thus concludeth the Mercy Trilogy. Thanks to all the readers who stuck with this story through _Ask Mercy Not of Me_ then _Lay Down the Salt Lines_, and finally _Silver Bullet to the Heart._ As always, constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated!


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